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AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



OF 



ANDREW DICKSON WHITE 



WITH PORTRAITS 



VOLUME I 



liffi 



NEW YORK 

THE CENTURY CO. 

1905 



c ■? 



THE ' °> f 

OONGRcSS. 

Two Copies Received 

MAR 13 1^05 
Copyright Ep*rv 

GLASS C«^ XXC **ot 
OOPY A. 



Copyright, 1904, 1905, by 
The Century Co. 



Published March, 1005 



THE DEVINNE PRESS 



TO 

MY OLD STUDENTS 

THIS EECOED OF MY LIFE 

IS INSCEIBED 

WITH MOST KINDLY KECOLLECTIONS 

AND BEST WISHES 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



PART I-ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION 
Chapter I. Boyhood in Central New York — 1832-1850 

PAGE 

The " Military Tract " of New York. A settlement on the headwaters of the 
Susquehanna. Arrival of my grandfathers and grandmothers. Growth of 
the new settlement. First recollections of it. General character of my en- 
vironment. My father and mother. Cortland Academy. Its twofold ef- 
fect upon me. First schooling. Methods in primary studies. Physical 
education. Removal to Syracuse. The Syracuse Academy. Joseph Allen 
and Professor Root; their influence; moral side of the education thtis ob- 
tained. General education outside the school. Removal to a "classical 
school "; a catastrophe. James W. Hoyt and his influence. My early love 
for classical studies. Discovery of Scott's novels. "The Gallery of British 
Artists." Effect of sundry conventions, public meetings, and lectures. Am 
sent to Geneva College ; treatment of faculty by students. A " Second Ad- 
ventist" meeting; Howell and Clark; my first meeting with Judge Folger. 
Philosophy of student dissipation at that place and time 3 



Chapter II. Yale and Europe — 1850-1857 

My coup d'6tat. Removal to Yale. New energy in study and reading. In- 
fluence of Emerson, Carlyle, and Ruskin. Yale in 1850. My disappointment 
at the instruction; character of president and professors; perfunctory 
methods in lower-class rooms; "gerund-grinding" vs. literature; James 
Hadley — his abilities and influence; other professors; influence of Presi- 
dent Woolsey, Professors Porter, Silliman, and Dana; absence of literary 
instruction ; character of that period from a literary point of view ; influ- 
ences from fellow-students. Importance of political questions at that time. 
Sundry successes in essay writing. Physical education at Yale ; boating. 
Life abroad after graduation ; visit to Oxford ; studies at the Sorbonne and 
College de France ; afternoons at the Invalides ; tramps through western 
and central France. Studies at St. Petersburg. Studies at Berlin. Jour- 
ney in Italy ; meeting with James Russell Lowell at Venice. Frieze, Fish- 
burne, and studies in Rome. Excursions through the south of France. 
Return to America. Influence of Buckle, Lecky, and Draper. The atmo- 
sphere of Darwin and Spencer. Educational environment at the University 
of Michigan 23 

vii 



viii TABLE OF CONTENTS 



PART II-POLITICAL LIFE 
Chapter III. From Jackson to Fillmore — 1832-1851 

PAGE 

Political division in my family ; differences between my father and grand- 
father; election of Andrew Jackson. First recollections of American poli- 
tics ; Martin Van Buren. Campaign of 1840 ; campaign songs and follies. 
Efforts by the Democrats ; General Crary of Michigan ; Corwin's speech. The 
Ogle gold-spoon speech. The Sub-Treasury Question. Election of General 
Harrison ; his death. Disappointment in President Tyler. Carelessness of 
nominating conventions as to the second place upon the ticket. Campaign 
of 1844. Clay, Birney, and Polk. Growth of anti-slavery feeling. Senator 
Hale's lecture. Henry Clay's proposal. The campaign of 1848 ; General 
Taylor vs. General Cass. My recollections of them both. State Conventions 
at this period. Governor Bouck ; his civility to Bishop Hughes. Fernando 
Wood ; his method of breaking up a State Convention. Charles O'Conor 
and John Van Buren ; boyish adhesion to Martin Van Buren against General 
Taylor ; Taylor's election ; his death. My recollections of Millard Fillmore. 
The Fugitive Slave Law 45 



Chapter IV. Early Manhood — 1851-1857 

"Jerry"; his sudden fame. Speeches of Daniel Webster and Henry Clay at 
Syracuse on the Fugitive Slave Law ; their prophecies. The "Jerry Rescue." 
Trials of the rescuers. My attendance at one of them. Bishop Loguen's 
prayer and Gerrit Smith's speech. Characteristics of Gerrit Smith. Effects 
of the rescue trials. Main difficulty of the anti-slavery party. "Fool Re- 
formers." Nominations of Scott and Pierce ; their qualities. Senator 
Douglas. Abolition of the Missouri Compromise. Growth of ill feeling 
between North and South. Pro-slavery tendencies at Yale. Stand against 
these taken by President Woolsey and Leonard Bacon. My candidacy for 
editorship of the "Yale Literary Magazine." Opposition on account of my 
anti-slavery ideas. My election. Temptations to palter with my conscience ; 
victory over them. Professor Hadley's view of duty to the Fugitive Slave 
Law. Lack of opportunity to present my ideas. My chance on Commence- 
ment Day. "Modern Oracles." Effect of my speech on Governor Seymour. 
Invitation to his legation at St. Petersburg after my graduation. Effect 
upon me of Governor Seymour's ideas regarding Jefferson. Difficulties in 
discussing the slavery question. My first discovery as to the value of politi- 
cal criticism in newspapers. Return to America. Presidential campaign of 
1856. Nomination of Fremont. My acquaintance with the Democratic 
nominee, Mr. Buchanan. My first vote. Argument made for the " American 
Party." Election of Buchanan. My first visit to Washington. President 
Pierce at the White House. Inauguration ■of the new President. Effect upon 
me of his speech and of a first sight of the United States Senate. Impression 
made by the Supreme Court. General impression made by Washington. My 
first public lecture — " Civilization in Russia " ; its political bearing ; attacks 
upon it and vindications of it. Its later history 61 



Chapter V. The Civil War Period — 1857-1864. 

My arrival at the University of Michigan. Political side of professorial life. 
General purpose of my lectures in the university and throughout the State. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS ; K 

My articles in the "Atlantic Monthly." President Buchanan, John Brown, 
Stephen A. Douglas, and others. The Chicago Convention. Nomination of 
Lincoln. Disappointment of my New York friends. Speeches by Carl 
Schurz. Election of Lincoln. Beginnings of Civil War. My advice to stu- 
dents. Reverses ; Bull Run. George Sumner's view. Preparation for the 
conflict. Depth of feeling. Pouring out of my students into the army. 
Kirby Smith. Conduct of the British Government. Break in my health. 
Thurlow Weed's advice to me. My work in London. Discouragements 
there. My published answer to Dr. Russell. Experiences in Ireland and 
France. My horror of the French Emperor. Effort to influence opinion in 
Germany. William Walton Murphy ; his interview with Baron Rothschild. 
Fourth of July celebration at Heidelberg in 1863. Turning of the contest in 
favor of the United States. My election to the Senate of the State of New 
York 83 

Chapter VI. Senatorship at Albany — 1864-1865 

My arrival at Albany as State Senator. My unfitness. Efforts to become 
acquainted with State questions. New acquaintances. Governor Horatio 
Seymour, Charles James Folger, Ezra Cornell, and others on the Republican 
side; Henry C. Murphy and Thomas C. Fields on the Democratic side. 
Daniel Manning. Position assigned me on committees. My maiden speech. 
Relations with Governor Seymour. My chairmanship of the Committee on 
Education. The Morrill Act of 1862. Mr. Cornell and myself at loggerheads . 
Codification of the Educational Laws. State Normal School BUI. Special 
Committee on the New York Health Department. Revelations made to the 
Committee. The Ward's Island matter. Last great effort of the State in 
behalf of the Union. The Bounty Bill. Opposition of Horace Greeley to it. 
Embarrassment caused by him at that period. Senator Allaben's speech 
against the Bounty Bill. His reference to French Assignats; my answer; 
results ; later development of this speech into a political pamphlet on " Paper 
Money Inflation in France." Baltimore Convention of 1864; its curious 
characteristics ; impression made upon me by it. Breckinridge, Curtis, and 
Raymond. Renomination of Lincoln ; my meeting him at the White House. 
Sundry peculiarities then revealed by him. His election 100 

Chapter VII. Senatorship at Albany — 1865-1867 

My second year in the State Senate. Struggle for the Charter of Cornell 
University. News of Lee's surrender. Assassination of Lincoln. Service 
over his remains at the Capitol in Albany. My address. Question of my 
renomination. Elements against me; the Tammany influence; sundry 
priests in New York, and clergymen throughout the State. Senatorial con- 
vention ; David J. Mitchell ; my renomination and election. My third year 
of service, 1866. Speech on the Health Department in New York ; monstrous 
iniquities in that Department; success in replacing it with a better system. 
My Phi Beta Kappa address at Yale ; its purpose. My election to a Professor- 
ship at Yale ; reasons for declining it. State Senate sits as Court to try a 
judge ; his offense ; pathetic complications ; his removal from office. Arrival 
of President Johnson, Secretary Seward, General Grant, and Admiral Farra- 
gut in Albany ; their reception by the Governor and Senate ; impressions 
made on me thereby ; part taken by Governor Fenton and Secretary Seward ; 
Judge Folger's remark to me. Ingratitude of the State thus far to its two 
greatest Governors, DeWitt Clinton and Seward 123 



x TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTEE VIII. ROSCOE CONKLING AND JUDGE FOLGEE — 

1867-1868 

PAGE 

Fourth year in the State Senate, 1867. Election of a United States Senator ; 
feeling throughout the State regarding Senators Morgan and Harris; Mr. 
Cornell's expression of it. The candidates ; characteristics of Senator Harris, 
of Judge Davis, of Roscoe Conkling. Services and characteristics of the 
latter which led me to support him ; hostility of Tammany henchmen to us 
both. The legislative caucus. Presentation of candidates ; my presentation 
of Mr. Conkling ; reception by the audience of my main argument ; Mr. 
Conkling elected. Difficulties between Judge Folger and myself ; question 
as to testimony in criminal cases ; Judge Folger's view of it ; his vexation at 
my obtaining a majority against him. Calling of the Constitutional Conven- 
tion ; Judge Folger's candidacy for its Presidency ; curious reason for Hor- 
ace Greeley's opposition to him. Another cause of separation between Judge 
Folger and myself. Defeat of the Sodus Canal Bill. Constitutional Conven- 
tion ; eminent men in it ; Greeley's position in it ; his agency in bringing the 
Convention into disrepute ; his later regret at his success ; the new Constitu- 
tion voted down. Visit to Agassiz at Nahant. A day with Longfellow. His 
remark regarding Mr. Greeley. Meeting with Judge Rockwood Hoar at Har- 
vard. Boylston prize competition ; the successful contestant ; Judge Hoar's 
remark regarding one of the speakers. My part in sundry political meetings. 
Visit to Senator Conkling. Rebuff at one of my meetings ; its effect upon me 133 



Chapter IX. G-eneeal Geant and Santo Domingo — 
1868-1871 

Distraction from politics by Cornell University work during two or three 
years following my senatorial term. Visits to scientific and technical schools 
in Europe. The second political campaign of General Grant. My visit to 
Auburn ; Mr. Seward's speech ; its unfortunate characteristics ; Mr. Cornell's 
remark on my proposal to call Mr. Seward as a commencement orator. Great 
services of Seward. State Judiciary Convention of 1870 ; my part in it ; 
nomination of Judge Andrews and Judge Folger ; my part in the latter ; its 
effect on my relations with Folger. Closer acquaintance with General Grant. 
Visit to Dr. Henry Field at Stockbridge ; Burton Harrison's account of the 
collapse of the Confederacy and the flight of Jefferson Davis. Story told me 
by William Preston Johnston throwing light on the Confederacy in its last 
hours. Delegacy to the State Republican Convention of 1870. Am named as 
Commissioner to Santo Domingo. First meeting with Senator Charles Sum- 
ner. My acquaintance with Senator McDougal. His strange characteristics. 
His famous plea for drunkenness. My absence in the West Indies .... 150 



Chapter X. The Geeeley Campaign — 1872 

First meeting with John Hay. Speech of Horace Greeley on his return from 
the South ; his discussion of national affairs ; his manner and surroundings ; 
lastahours and death of Samuel J. May. The Prudence Crandall portrait. 
Addresses at the Yale alumni dinner. Dinner with Longfellow at Craigie 
House. The State Convention of 1871 ; my chairmanship and presidency of 
it. My speech ; appointment of committees ; anti-administration demonstra- 
tion ; a stormy session ; retirement of the anti-administration forces ; attacks 



TABLE OF CONTENTS xi 

PAGE 

in consequence ; rally of old friends to ray support. Examples of the futility 
of such attacks ; Senator Carpenter, Governor Seward, Senator Conkling. 
My efforts to interest Conkling in a reform of the civil service. Republican 
National Convention at Philadelphia in 1872 ; ability of sundry colored dele- 
gates ; nomination of Grant and Wilson. Mr. Greeley's death. Character- 
istics of General Grant as President. Reflections on the campaign. Questions 
asked me by a leadiug London joiirnalist regarding the election. My first 
meeting with Samuel J. Tildeu ; low ebb of his fortunes at that period. The 
culmination of Tweed. Thomas Nast. Meeting of the Electoral College at 
Albany; the "Winged Victory " and General Grant's credentials. My first 
experience of " Reconstruction" in the South ; visit to the State Capitol of 
South Carolina ; rulings of the colored Speaker of .the House ; fulfilment of 
Thomas Jefferson's inspired prophecy 159 



Chapter XI. Grant, Hayes, and G-arfield — 1871-1881 

Sundry visits to Washington during General Grant's presidency. Impression 
made by President Grant ; visit to him in company with Agassiz ; character- 
istics shown by him at Long Branch ; his dealing with one newspaper corre- 
spondent and story regarding another. His visit to me at Cornell ; his 
remark regarding the annexation of Santo Domingo ; far-sighted reason as- 
signed for it ; his feeling regarding a third presidential term. My journey 
with him upon the Rhine. Walks and talks with him in Paris. Persons met 
at Senator Conkling's. Story told by Senator Carpenter. The " Greenback 
Craze " ; its spirit ; its strength. Wretched character of the old banking 
system. Ability and force of Mr. Conkling's speech at Ithaca. Its effect. 
My previous relations with Garfield. Character and effect of his speech at 
Ithaca ; his final address to the students of the University. Our midnight 
conversation. President Hayes ; impressions regarding him ; attacks upon 
him; favorable judgment upon him by observant foreigners; excellent im- 
pression made by him upon me at this time and at a later period. The 
assassination of General Garfield. Difficulties which thickened about him 
toward the end of his career. Characteristics of President Arthur. Ground 
taken in my public address at Ithaca at the service in commemoration of 
Garfield . . 177 



Chapter XII. Arthur, Cleveland, and Blaine — 1881- 
1884 

President Arthur; course before his Presidency; qualities revealed afterV 
ward ; curious circumstances of his nomination. Reform of the Civil Service/ 
My article in the "North American Review." Renewal of my acquaintance 
with Mr. Evarts ; his witty stories. My efforts to interest Senator Piatt V 
civil-service reform ; his slow progress in this respect. Wayne MacVe, 
Judge Biddle's remark at his table on American feeling regarding capital pj 
ishment. Great defeat of the Republican party in 1882. Judge Polger's un- 
fortunate campaign. Election of Mr. Cleveland. My address on " The New 
Germany " at New York. Meeting with General McDowell ; the injustice of 
popular judgment upon him. Revelation of Tammany frauds. Grover Cleve- 
land ; his early life ; his visit to the University ; impression made upon me 
by him. Senator Morrill's visit ; tribute paid him by the University author- 
ities. My address at Yale on " The Message of the Nineteenth Century to the 
Twentieth." Addresses by Carl Schurz and myself at the funeral of Edward 



xii TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Lasker. Election as a delegate at large to the National Republican Conven- 
tion at Chicago, 1884. Difficulties regarding Mr. Blaine ; vain efforts to nom- 
inate another candidate; George William Curtis and his characteristics; 
tyranny over the Convention by the gallery mob ; nomination of Blaine and 
Logan. Nomination of Mr. Cleveland by the Democrats. Tyranny by the 
Chicago mob at that convention also. Open letter to Theodore Roosevelt in 
favor of Mr. Blaine. Private letter to Mr. Blaine in favor of a reform of the 
Civil Service. His acceptance of its suggestions. Wretched character of the 
campaign. Presidency of the Republican mass meeting at Syracuse ; experi- 
ence with a Kentucky orator. Election of Mr. Cleveland 192 

Chapter XIII. Hendricks, John Sherman, Bancroft, 
and Others — 1884-1891 

Renewal of my acquaintance with Mr. Cleveland at Washington. Meeting 
with Mr. Blaine ; his fascinating qualities ; his self-control. William Walter 
Phelps ; his arguments regarding the treatment of Congressional speakers by 
the press. Senator Randall Gibson ; meeting at his house with Vice-Presi- 
dent Hendricks ; evident disappointment of the Vice-President ; his view of 
civil-service reform ; defense of it by Senator Butler of South Carolina ; 
reminiscences of odd senators by Senator Jones of Florida ; Gibson's opinion 
of John Sherman. President Cleveland's mode of treating office-beggars and 
the like; Senator Sawyer's story; Secretary Fairchild's remark; Senators 
Sherman and Vance. Secretary Bayard's criticism of applicants for office. 
Senator Butler's remark on secession. Renewal of my acquaintance with 
George Bancroft. Goldwin Smith in Washington ; his favorable opinion of 
American crowds. Chief Justice Waite. General Sheridan ; his account of 
the battle of Gravelotte ; discussion between Sheridan and Goldwin Smith 
regarding sundry points in military history. General Schenck ; his remi- 
niscences of Corwin, Everett, and others. Resignation of my presidency at 
Cornell, 1885. President Cleveland's tender of an Interstate Railway com- 
missionership ; my declination. Departure for Europe. Am tendered nomi- 
nation for Congress ; my discussion of the matter in London with President 
Porter of Yale and others ; declination. Visit to Washington under the ad- 
ministration of General Harrison, January, 1891 ; presentation of proposals 
to him regarding civil- service reform ; his speech in reply 213 

Chapter XIV. McKinley and Eoosevelt — 1891-1904 

Candidacy for the governorship of New York ; Mr. Piatt's relation to it ; my . 
reluctance and opposition ; decision of the Rochester Convention in favor of 
Mr. Fassett ; natural reasons for this. Lectures at Stanford University. 
Visit to Mexico and California with Mr. Andrew Carnegie and his party. 
President Harrison tenders me the position of minister to Russia ; my reten- 
tion in office by Mr. .Cleveland. My stay in Italy 1894-1895. President Cleve- 
land appoints me upon the Venezuelan Boundary Commission, December, 
1895. Presidential campaign of 1896. My unexpected part in it; nomination 
of Mr. Bryan by Democrats ; publication of my open letter to sundry Demo- 
crats; republication of my " Paper Money Inflation in France," and its cir- 
culation as a campaign document ; election of Mr. McKinley. My address 
before the State Universities of Wisconsin and Minnesota ; strongly favor- 
able impression made upon me by them ; meeting with Mr. Ignatius Don- 
nelly; his public address to me in the State House of Minnesota. My ad- 
dresses at Harvard, Yale, and elsewhere. Am appointed by President 



TABLE OF CONTENTS xiii 

PAGE 

McKinley ambassador to Germany ; question of my asking sanction of Mr. 
Piatt ; how settled. Renomination of McKinley with Mr. Roosevelt as Vice- 
President. I revisit America ; day with Mr. Roosevelt ; visits to Washing- 
ton ; my impressions of President McKinley ; his conversation ; his coolness ; 
tributes from his Cabinet ; Secretary Hay's testimony ; Mr. McKinley's re- 
fusal to make speeches during his second campaign; his reasons; his reelec- 
tion ; how received in Europe. His assassination ; receipt of the news in 
Germany and Great Britain. My second visit to America; sadness; mourn- 
ful reflections at White House ; conversations with President Roosevelt ; 
message given me by him for the Emperor ; its playful ending. The two 
rulers compared 229 



PART III — AS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR 

Chapter XV. Life at the University of Michigan — 
1857-1864 

Early ideals. Gradual changes in these. Attractions of journalism then and 
now. New views of life opened to me at Paris and Berlin. Dreams of aid- 
ing the beginnings of a better system of university education in the United 
States. Shortcomings of American instruction, especially regarding history, 
political science, and literature, at that period. My article on "German 
Instruction in General History" in "The New Englander." Influence of 
Stanley's " Life of Arnold." Turning point in my life at the Yale Com- 
mencement of 1856 ; Dr. Wayland's speech. Election to the professorship 
of history and English literature at the University of Michigan; my first 
work in it ; sundry efforts toward reforms ; text-books ; social relations with 
students ; use of the Abbe" Bautain's book. My courses of lectures ; Presi- 
dent Tappan's advice on extemporaneous speaking ; publication of my sylla- 
bus; ensuing relations with Charles Sumner. Growth and use of my private 
historical library. Character of my students. Necessity for hard work. 
Student discussions 251 

Chapter XVI. University Life in the West — 
1857-1864 

Some difficulties ; youthf ulness ; struggle against various combinations ; my 
victory; an enemy made a friend. Lectures throughout Michigan; main 
purpose in these; a storm aroused; vigorous attack upon my politico-eco- 
nomical views ; happy results ; revenge upon my assailant ; discussion in a 
County Court House. Breadth and strength then given to my ideas regard- 
ing university education. President Tappan. Henry Simmons Frieze. 
Brunnow. Chief Justice Cooley. Judge Campbell. Distinguishing feature 
of the University of Michigan in those days. Dr. Tappan's good sense in 
administration; one typical example. Unworthy treatment of him by the 
Legislature ; some causes of this. Opposition to the State University by the 
small sectarian colleges. Dr. Tappan's prophecy to sundry demagogues ; 
its fulfilment. Sundry defects of his qualities; the "Winchell War," 
"Armed Neutrality." Retirement of President Tappan; its painful cir- 
cumstances ; amends made later by the citizens of Michigan. The little 
city of Ann Arbor ; origin of its name. Recreations ; tree planting on the 
campus ; results of this. Exodus of students into the Civil War. Lectures 
continued after my resignation. My affectionate relations with the insti- 
tution 266 



xiv TABLE OF CONTENTS 



PART IV — AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT 

Chaptee XVII. Evolution of "The Cornell Idea" — 
1850-1865 

PAGE 

Development of my ideas on university organization at Hobart College, at 
Yale, and abroad. Their further evolution at the University of Michigan. 
President Tappan's influence. My plan of a university at Syracuse. Dis- 
cussions with George William Curtis. Proposal to Gerrit Smith ; its failure. 
A new opportunity opens 287 



Chapter XVIII. Ezra Cornell — 1864-1874 

Ezra Cornell. My first impressions regarding him. His public library. 
Temporary estrangement between us ; regarding the Land Grant Fund. Our 
conversation regarding his intended gift. The State Agricultural College 
and the " People's College " ; his final proposal. Drafting of the Cornell Uni- 
versity Charter. His foresight. His views of university education. 
Struggle for the charter in the Legislature ; our efforts to overcome the 
coalition against us ; bitter attacks on him ; final struggle in the Assembly, 
Senate, and before the Board of Regents. Mr. Cornell's location of the en- 
dowment lands. He nominates me to the University Presidency. His con- 
stant liberality and labors. His previous life ; growth of his fortune ; his 
noble use of it; sundry original ways of his; his enjoyment of the uni- 
versity in its early days ; his mixture of idealism and common sense. First 
celebration of Founder's Day. His resistance to unreason. Bitter attacks 
upon him in sundry newspapers and in the Legislature ; the investigation ; 
his triumph. His minor characteristics; the motto "True and Firm" on 
his house. His last days and hours. His political ideas. His quaint say- 
ings; intellectual and moral characteristics; equanimity; religious convic- 
tions . 294 



Chapter XIX. Organization of Cornell Univer- 
sity — 1865-1868 

Virtual Presidency of Cornell during two years before my actual election. 
Division of labor between Mr. Cornell and myself. My success in thwarting 
efforts to scatter the Land Grant Fund, and in impressing three points on 
the Legislature. Support given by Horace Greeley to the third of these. 
Judge Folger's opposition. Sudden death of Dr. Willard and its effects. Our 
compromise with Judge Folger. The founding of Willard Asylum. Contin- 
ued opposition to us. Election to the Presidency of the University. Pres- 
sure of my own business. Presentation of my " Plan of Organization." 
Selection of Professors; difficulty of such selection in those days as com- 
pared with these ; system suggested ; system adopted. Resident and non- 
resident professorships. Erection of university buildings ; difficulty arising 
from a requirement of our charter ; general building plan adopted. My visit 
to European technical institutions ; choice of foreign professors ; purchases 
of books, apparatus, etc 330 



TABLE OF CONTENTS xv 

Chapter XX. The First Years of Cornell Univer- 
sity — 1868-1870 

page 
Formal opening of the University October 7, 1868. Difficulties, mishaps, ca- 
lamities, obstacles. Effect of these on Mr. Cornell and myself. Opening cere- 
monies of the morning; Mr. Cornell's speech and my own; effect of Mr. 
Cornell's broken health upon me. The first ringing of the chime ; effect of 
George W. Curtis's oration; my realization of our difficulties; Mr.,Cornell's 
physical condition; inadequacy of our resources; impossibility of selling 
lands; our necessary unreadiness ; haste compelled by our charter. Mr. Cor- 
nell's letter to the " New York Tribune " regarding student labor. Dreamers 
and schemers. Efforts by " hack " politicians. Attacks by the press, denomi- 
national and secular. Friction in the University machinery. Difficulty of 
the students in choosing courses; improvement in these days consequent 
upon improvement of schools. My reprint of John Foster's " Essay on De- 
cision of Character " ; its good effects. Compensations ; character of the stu- 
dents ; few infractions of discipline ; causes of this ; effects of liberty of 
choice between courses of study. My success in preventing the use of the 
faculty as policemen ; the Campus Bridge case. Sundry trials of students 
by the faculty ; the Dundee Lecture case ; the " Mock Programme " case ; a 
suspension of class officers ; revelation in all this of a spirit of justice among 
students. Athletics and their effects. Boating ; General Grant's remark to 
me on the Springfield regatta ; Cornell's double success at Saratoga ; letter 
from a Princeton graduate. General improvement in American university 
students during the second half of the nineteenth century 340 



Chapter XXI. Difficulties and Dangers at Cor- 
nell — 1868-1872 

Questions regarding courses of instruction. Evils of the old system of assign- 
ing them entirely to resident professors. Literary instruction at Yale ; 
George William Curtis and John Lord. Our general scheme. The Arts 
Course ; clinching it into our system ; purchase of the Anthon Library ; charges 
against us on this score ; our vindication. The courses in literature, science, 
and philosophy ; influence of one of Herbert Spencer's ideas upon the forma- 
tion of all these ; influence of my own experience. Professor Wilder ; his 
services against fustian and " tall talk." The course in literature; use made 
of it in promoting the general culture of students. Technical departments ; 
Civil Engineering ; incidental question of creed in electing a professor to it. 
Department of Agriculture ; its difficulties ; three professors who tided it 
through. Department of Mechanic Arts ; its peculiar difficulties and dangers ; 
Mr. Cornell's view regarding college shop work for bread winning ; necessity 
for practical work in connection with theoretical ; mode of bringing about 
this connection. Mr. Sibley's gift. Delay in recognition of our success. De- 
partment of Architecture ; origin of my ideas on this subject; the Trustees 
accept my architectural library and establish the Department 354 

Chapter XXII. Further Development of University 

Courses— 1870-1872 

Establishment of Laboratories. Governor Cleveland's visit. Department of 
Electrical Engineering ; its origin. Department of Political Science and His- 



xvi TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

tory. Influence of my legislative experience upon it ; my report on the Paris 
Exposition, and address at Johns Hopkins ; a beginning made ; excellent 
work done by Frank Sanborn. Provision for Political Economy ; presenta- 
tion of both sides of controverted questions. Instruction in History ; my own 
part in it ; its growth ; George Lincoln Burr called into it ; lectures by Gold- 
win Smith, Freeman, Froude, and others. Instruction in American History ; 
calling of George W. Greene and Theodore Dwight as Non-Resident, and 
finally of Moses Coit Tyler as Resident Professor. Difficulties in some of 
these Departments. Reaction, " The Oscillatory Law of Human Progress." 
"Joe" Sheldon's "Professorship of Horse Sense " needed. First gift of a 
building — McGraw Hall. Curious passage in a speech at the laying of its 
corner-stone. Military Instruction ; peculiar clause regarding it in our 
Charter; our broad construction of it; my reasons for this. The Conferring 
of Degrees ; abuse at sundry American institutions in conferring honorary 
degrees; why Cornell University confers none. Regular Degrees; theory 
originally proposed ; theory adopted ; recent change in practice 377 



Chapter XXIII. " Co-education " and an Unsectarian 
Pulpit — 1871-1904 

Admission of women. The Cortland Free Scholarship ; the Sage gift ; diffi- 
culties and success. Establishment of Sage Chapel ; condition named by me 
for its acceptance ; character of the building. Establishment of a preacher- 
ship ; my suggestions regarding it accepted ; Phillips Brooks preaches the 
first sermon, 1875 ; results of this system. Establishment of Barnes Hall ; 
its origin and development ; services it has rendered. Development of sun- 
dry minor ideas in building up the University ; efforts to develop a recogni- 
tion of historical and commemorative features ; portraits, tablets, memorial 
windows, etc. The beautiful work of Robert Richardson. The Memorial 
Chapel. Efforts to preserve the beauty of the grounds and original plan of 
buildings ; constant necessity for such efforts ; dangers threatening the orig- 
inal plan 397 



Chapter XXIV. Rocks, Storms, and Peril — 1868-1874 

Difficulties and discouragements. Very serious character of some of these. 
Financial difficulties; our approach, at times, to ruin. Splendid gifts ; their 
continuance; the "Ostrander Elms"; encouragement thus given. Difficul- 
ties arising from our Charter ; short time allowed us for opening the Uni- 
versity ; general plans laid down for us. Advice, comments, etc., from 
friends and enemies ; remark of the Johns Hopkins trustees as to their free- 
dom from oppressive supervision and control ; my envy of them. Large ex- 
penditure demanded. Mr. Cornell's burdens. Installation of a "Business 
Manager." My suspicion as to our finances. Mr. Cornell's optimism. Dis- 
covery of a large debt ; Mr. Cornell's noble proposal ; the debt cleared in fif- 
teen minutes by four men. Ultimate result of this subscription ; worst 
calamities to Cornell its greatest blessings ; example of this in the founding 
of fellowships and scholarships. Successful financial management ever since. 
Financial difficulties arising from the burden of the University lands on Mr. 
Cornell, and from his promotion of local railways ; his good reasons for un- 
dertaking these. Entanglement of the University affairs with those of the 
State and of Mr. Cornell. Narrow escape of the institution from a fatal re- 
sult. Judge Finch as an adviser ; his extrication of the University and of 



TABLE OF CONTENTS xvii 

PAG Hi 

Mr. Cornell's family ; interwoven interests disentangled. Death of Mr. Cor- 
nell, December, 1875. My depression at this period; refuge in historical 
work. Another calamity. Munificence of John McGraw ; interest shown in 
the institution by his daughter; her relations to the University ; her death; 
her bequest; my misgivings as to our Charter; personal complications be- 
tween the McGraw heirs and some of our trustees ; efforts to bring about a 
settlement thwarted ; ill success of the University in the ensuing litigation. 
Disappointment at this prodigious loss. Compensations for it. Splendid 
gifts from Mr. Henry W. Sage, Messrs. Dean and Win. H. Sage, and others. 
Continuance of sectarian attacks; virulent outbursts; we stand on the de- 
fensive. I finally take the offensive in a lecture on " The Battle-fields of 
Science " ; its purpose, its reception when repeated and when published ; 
kindness of President Woolsey in the matter. Gradual expansion of the 
lecture into a history of " The Warfare of Science with Theology " ; filtration 
of the ideas it represents into piiblic opinion ; effect of this in smoothing the 
way for the University 412 



Chapter XXV. Concluding Years — 1881-1885 

Evolution of the University administration. The Trustees ; new method of 
selecting them ; Alumni trustees. The Executive Committee. The Faculty ; 
method of its selection ; its harmony. The Students ; system of taking them 
into our confidence. Alumni associations. Engrossing nature of the admin- 
istration. Collateral duties. Addresses to the Legislature, to associations, to 
other institutions of learning. Duties as Professor. Delegation of sundry 
administrative details. Inaccessibility of the University in those days ; dif- 
ficulties in winter. Am appointed Commissioner to Santo Domingo in 1870 ; 
to a commissionership at the Paris Exposition in 1877, and as Minister to Ger- 
many in 1879-1881. Test of the University organization during these absences ; 
opportunity thus given the University Faculty to take responsibility in Uni- 
versity government. Ill results, in sundry other institutions, of holding the 
President alone responsible. General good results of our system. Difficul- 
ties finally arising. My return. The four years of my presidency after- 
ward. Resignation in 1885. Kindness of trustees and students. Am re- 
quested to name my successor, and I nominate Charles Kendall Adams. 
Transfer of my historical library to the University. Two visits to Europe ; 
reasons for them. Lectures at various universities after my return. Re- 
sumption of diplomatic duties. Continued relations to the University. My 
feelings toward it on nearing the end of life 427 



PART V — IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE 

Chapter XXVI. As Attache at St. Petersburg — 
1854-1855 

My first studies in History and International Law. Am appointed attache at 
St. Petersburg. Stay in London. Mr. Buchanan's reminiscences. Arrival 
in St. Petersburg. Duty of an attach^. Effects of the Crimean War on the 
position of the American Minister and his suite. Good feeling established be- 
tween Russia and the United States. The Emperor Nicholas ; his death ; his 
funeral. Reception of the Diplomatic Corps at the Winter Palace by Alex- 
ander II ; his speech ; feeling shown by him toward Austria. Count Nessel- 



xviii TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

rode; his kindness to me. "Visits of sundry Americans to St. Petersburg. 
Curious discovery at the Winter Palace among the machines left by Peter 
the Great. American sympathizers with Russia in the Crimean War. Diffi- 
culties thus caused for the Minister. Examples of very original Americans ; 
the Kentucky Colonel ; the New York Election Manager ; performance of 
the latter at a dinner party and display at the Post House. Feeling of the 
Government toward the United States ; example of this at the Kazan Cathe- 
dral. Household troubles of the Minister. Baird the Ironmaster ; his yacht 
race with the Grand Duke Alexander ; interesting scenes at his table. The 
traveler Atkinson and Siberia 447 



Chapter XXVII. As Attache and Bearer of De- 
spatches in War-Time — 1855 

Blockade of the Neva by the allied fleet. A great opportunity lost. Russian 
caricatures during the Crimean War. Visit to Moscow. Curious features in 
the Kremlin ; the statue of Napoleon ; the Crown, Sceptre, and Constitution 
of Poland. Evidences of official stupidity. Journey from St. Petersburg to 
Warsaw. Contest with the officials at the frontier; my victory. Journey 
across the continent: scene in a railway carriage between Strasburg and 
Paris. Delivery of my despatches in Paris. Baron Seebach. The French 
Exposition of 1855. Arrival of Horace Greeley ; comical features in his 
Parisian life ; his arrest and imprisonment ; his efforts to learn French in 
prison and after his release, especially at the CrSmerie of Madame Busque. 
Scenes at the Exposition. Journey through Switzerland. Experience at the 
Hospice of the Great St. Bernard ; Fanny Kemble Butler ; kind treatment by 
the monks. My arrival in Berlin as student 466 



Chapter XXVIII. As Commissioner to Santo Domin- 
go— 1871 

Propositions for the annexation of Santo Domingo to the United States. I 
am appointed one of three Commissioners to visit the island. Position taken 
by Senator Sumner ; my relations with him ; my efforts to reconcile him 
with the Grant Administration ; effort of Gerrit Smith. Speeches of Sena- 
tor Schurz. Conversations with Admiral Porter, Benjamin F. Butler, and 
others. Discussions with President Grant; his charge to me. Enlistment 
of scientific experts. Direction of them. Our residence at Santo Domingo 
city. President Baez ; his conversations. Condition of the Republic ; its 
denudation. Anxiety of the clergy for connection with the United States. 
My negotiation with the Papal Nuncio and Vicar Apostolic ; his earnest de- 
sire for annexation. Reasons for this. My expedition across the island. 
Mishaps. Interview with guerrilla general in the mountains. His gift. Vain 
efforts at diplomacy. Our official inquiries regarding earthquakes ; pious 
view taken by the Vicar of Cotuy. Visit to Vega. Aid given me by the 
French Vicar. Arrival at Puerto Plata. My stay at the Vice-President's 
house; a tropical catastrophe; public dinner and speech under difficulties. 
Journey in the Nantasket to Port-au-Prince. Scenes in the Haitian capital ; 
evidences of revolution ; unlimited paper money ; effect of these experiences 
on Frederick Douglass. Visit to Jamaica ; interview with President Geffrard. 
Experience of the Commission with a newspaper reporter. Landing at 
Charleston. Journey to Washington. Refusal of dinner to Douglass on the 



TABLE OF CONTENTS xix 

PAGE 

Potomac steamer. Discovery regarding an assertion in Mr. Sumner's speech 
on Santo Domingo ; his injustice. Difference of opinion in drawing up our 
report ; we present no recommendation but simply a statement of facts. 
Reasons why the annexation was not accomplished 483 



Chapter XXIX. As Commissioner to the Paris Ex- 
position — 1878 

Previous experience on the Educational Jury at the Philadelphia Exposition. 
Emperor Dom Pedro of Brazil ; curious revelation of his character at Booth's 
Theater ; my after acquaintance with him. Don Juan Marin ; his fine char- 
acteristics ; his lesson to an American crowd. Levasseur of the French In- 
stitute. Millet. Gardner Hubbard. My honorary commissionership to the 
Paris Exposition. Previous troubles of our Commissioner-General at the 
Vienna Exposition. Necessity of avoiding these at Paris. Membership of 
the upper jury. Meissonier. Tresca. Jules Simon. Wischniegradsky. Dif- 
ficulty regarding the Edison exhibit. My social life in Paris. The sculptor 
Story and Judge Daly. A Swiss-American juryman's efforts to secure the 
Legion of Honor. A Fourth of July jubilation ; light thrown by it on the 
"Temperance Question." Henri Martin. Jules Simon pilots me in Paris. 
Sainte-Clair Deville. Pasteur. Desjardins. Drouyu de Lhuys. The reform 
school at Mettray. My visit to Thiers ; his relations to France as historian 
and statesman. Duruy ; his remark on rapid changes in French Ministries. 
Convention on copyright. Victor Hugo. Louis Blanc; his opinion of 
Thiers. Troubles of the American Minister ; a socially ambitious American 
lady ; vexatious plague thus revealed 508 



Chapter XXX. As Minister to Germany — 1879-1881 

Am appointed by President Hayes. Receiving instructions in Washington. 
Mr. Secretary Evarts. Interesting stay in London. The Lord Mayor at 
Guildhall. Speeches by Beaconsfield and others. An animated automaton. 
An evening drive with Browning. Arrival in Berlin. Golden wedding fes- 
tivities of the Emperor William I. Audiences with various members of the 
imperial family. Wedding ceremonies of Prince Williani, now Emperor 
William II. Usual topic of the American representative on presenting his 
Letter of Credence from the President to the Prussian monarch. Prince 
Bismarck; his greeting; questions regarding German -Americans. Other 
difficulties. Baron von Biilow ; his conciliatory character. Vexatious cases. 
Two complicated marriages. Imperial relations. Superintendence of con- 
suls. Transmission of important facts to the State Department. Care for 
personal interests of Americans. Fugitives from justice. The selling of 
sham American diplomas ; effective means taken to stop this. Presentations 
at court ; troublesome applications ; pleasure of aiding legitimate American 
efforts and ambitions ; discriminations. Curious letters demanding aid or 
information. Claims to inheritances. Sundry odd applications. The "au- 
tograph bed-quilt." Associations with the diplomatic corps. Count Delaunay. 
Lord Odo Russell. The Methuen episode. Count de St. Vallier ; embarrass- 
ing mishap at Nice due to him. The Turkish and Russian ambassadors. 
Distressing Russian- American marriage case. Baron Nothomb ; his reminis- 
cences of Talleyrand. The Saxon representative and the troubles of Ameri- 
can lady students at Leipsic. Quaint discussions of general politics by 



xx TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

sundry diplomatists. The Japanese and Chinese representatives. Curious 
experience with a member of the Chinese Legation at a court reception. 
Sundry German public men 528 

Chaptek XXXI. Men of Note in Beelin and Else- 
where — 1879-1881 

My relations with professors at the Berlin University. Lepsius, Curtius, 
Gneist, Von Sybel, Droysen. Hermann Grimm and his wife. Treitschke. 
Statements of Du Bois-Reymond regarding the expulsion of the Huguenots 
from France. Helmholtz and Hoffmann ; a Scotch experience of the latter. 
Acquaintance with professors at other universities. Literary men of Berlin. 
Auerbach. His story of unveiling the Spinoza statue. Rodenberg. Berlin 
artists. Knaus ; curious beginning of my acquaintance with him. Carl 
Becker. Anton von Werner; his statement regarding his painting the 
"Proclamation of the Empire at Versailles." Adolf Menzel ; visit to his 
studio ; his quaint discussions of his own pictures. Pilgrimage to Oberam- 
mergau; impressions; my acquaintance with the "Christus" and the 
"Judas"; popular prejudice against the latter. Excursion to France. Talks 
with President GreVy and with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Barthelemy- 
Saint-Hilaire. The better side of France. Talk with M. de Lesseps. The salon 
of Madame Edruond Adam. Emile de Girardin. My recollections of Alex- 
ander Dumas. Sainte-Beuve. Visit to Nice. Young Leland Stanford. Visit 
to Florence. Ubaldino Peruzzi. Professor Villari. A reproof from a Har- 
vard professor. Minghetti. Emperor Frederick III ; his visit to the Ameri- 
can Fisheries Exposition ; the Americans win the prize. Interest of the 
Prince in everything American. Kindness and heartiness of the Emperor 
WiUiam I ; his interest in Bancroft ; my final interview with him. Farewell 
dinner to me by my Berlin friends. 557 

Chapter XXXII. My Recollections of Bismarck — 

1879-1881 

My first sight of him. First interview with him. His feeling toward Ger- 
man-Americans. His conversation on American questions. A family dinner 
at his house. His discussion of various subjects ; his opinions of Thiers 
and others ; conversation on travel ; his opinions of England and English- 
men ; curious reminiscences of his own life ; kindly recollections of Bancroft, 
Bayard Taylor, and Motley. Visit to him with William D. Kelly; our walk 
and talk in the garden. Bismarck's view of financial questions. Mr. Kelly's 
letter to the American papers ; its effect in Germany. Bismarck's diplomatic 
dinners ; part taken in them by the Eekhshunde. The Rudhardt episode. 
Scene in the Prussian House of Lords. Bismarck's treatment of Lasker ; his 
rejection of our Congressional Resolutions. Usual absence of Bismarck from 
Court. Reasons for it. Festivities at the marriage of the present Emperor 
William. A Fackeltanz. Bismarck's fits of despondency ; remark by Gneist. 
Gneist's story illustrating Bismarck's drinking habits. Difficulties in Ger- , 
man- American "military cases" after Baron von Billow's death. A serious 
crisis. Bismarck's mingled severity and kindness. His unyielding attitude 
toward Russia. Question between us regarding German interference in South 
America. My citations from Washington's Farewell Address and John 
Quincy Adams's despatches. Bismarck's appearance in Parliament. His mode 
of speaking. Contrast of his speeches with those of Moltke and Windthorst. 
Beauty of his family life. My last view of him 574 



LIST OF PORTRAITS 

OF THE AUTHOE 

Volume I 

ITHACA, 1905 Frontispiece 

Photograph by Robinson, Ithaca 

SARATOGA, 1842 Facing page 8 

From a daguerreotype 

CORNELL UNIVERSITY, 1878 " "416 

Photograph by Sarony, New York 

Volume II 

THE HAGUE, 1899 Frontispiece 

Photograph by Zimmermans, The Hague 

OXFORD, 1902 Facing page 208 

Photograph by Robinson, Ithaca 



r 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
ANDREW DICKSON WHITE 

PART I 
ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
ANDREW DICKSON WHITE 



CHAPTER I 

BOYHOOD IN CENTRAL NEW YORK— 1832-1850 

AT the close of the Revolution which separated the 
JTJL colonies from the mother country, the legislature of 
New York set apart nearly two million acres of land, in the 
heart of the State, as bounty to be divided among her sol- 
diers who had taken part in the war ; and this ' ' Military 
Tract," having been duly divided into townships, an ill- 
inspired official, in lack of names for so many divisions, 
sprinkled over the whole region the contents of his class- 
ical dictionary. Thus it was that there fell to a beautiful 
valley upon the headwaters of the Susquehanna the 
name of "Homer." Fortunately the surveyor-general 
left to the mountains, lakes, and rivers the names the 
Indians had given them, and so there was still some poet- 
ical element remaining in the midst of that unfortunate 
nomenclature. The counties, too, as a rule, took Indian 
names, so that the town of Homer, with its neighbors, 
Tully, Pompey, Fabius, Lysander, and the rest, were em- 
bedded in the county of Onondaga, in the neighborhood 
of lakes Otisco and Skaneateles, and of the rivers Tiough- 
nioga and Susquehanna. 

Hither came, toward the close of the eighteenth century, 
a body of sturdy New Englanders, and, among them, my 
grandfathers and grandmothers. Those on my father's 
side: Asa White and Clara Keep, from Munson, Massa- 



4 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION-I 

chusetts; those on my mother's side, Andrew Dickson, 
from Middlefield, Massachusetts, and Ruth Hall from 
Guilford, Connecticut. They were all of "good stock." 
When I was ten years old I saw my great-grandfather at 
Middlefield, eighty-two years of age, sturdy and vigorous ; 
he had mowed a broad field the day before, and he walked 
four miles to church the day after. He had done his duty 
manfully during the war, had been a member of the 
"Great and General Court" of Massachusetts, and had 
held various other offices, which showed that he enjoyed 
the confidence of his fellow-citizens. As to the other side 
of the house, there was a tradition that we came from 
Peregrine White of the Mayflower; but I have never had 
time to find whether my doubts on the subject were well 
founded or not. Enough for me to know that my yeo- 
men ancestors did their duty in war and peace, were hon- 
est, straightforward, God-fearing men and women, who 
owned their own lands, and never knew what it was to 
cringe before any human being. 

These New Englanders literally made the New York 
wilderness to blossom as the rose; and Homer, at my 
birth in 1832, about forty years after the first settlers 
came, was, in its way, one of the prettiest villages im- 
aginable. In the heart of it was the ' ' Green, ' ' and along 
the middle of this a line of church edifices, and the acad- 
emy. In front of the green, parallel to the river, ran, 
north and south, the broad main street, beautifully shaded 
with maples, and on either side of this, in the middle of 
the village, were stores, shops, and the main taverns ; while 
north and south of these were large and pleasant dwell- 
ings, each in its own garden or grove or orchard, and 
separated from the street by light palings,— all, without 
exception, neat, trim, and tidy. 

My first recollections are of a big, comfortable house 
of brick, in what is now called "colonial style," with a 
"stoop," long and broad, on its southern side, which in 
summer was shaded with honeysuckles. Spreading out 
southward from this was a spacious garden filled with 



BOYHOOD IN CENTRAL NEW YORK-1832-1850 5 

old-fashioned flowers, and in this I learned to walk. To 
this hour the perfume of a pink brings the whole scene 
before me, and proves the justice of Oliver Wendell 
Holmes 's saying that we remember past scenes more viv- 
idly by the sense of smell than by the sense of sight. 

I can claim no merit for clambering out of poverty. 
My childhood was happy; my surroundings wholesome; 
I was brought up neither in poverty nor riches ; my par- 
ents were what were called "well-to-do-people"; every- 
thing about me was good and substantial; but our mode 
of life was frugal ; waste or extravagance or pretense was 
not permitted for a moment. My paternal grandfather 
had been, in the early years of the century, the richest 
man in the township; but some time before my birth he 
had become one of the poorest; for a fire had consumed 
his mills, there was no insurance, and his health gave way. 
On my father, Horace White, had fallen, therefore, the 
main care of his father's family. It was to the young 
man, apparently, a great calamity:— that which grieved 
him most being that it took him— a boy not far in his 
teens— out of school. But he met the emergency man- 
fully, was soon known far and wide for his energy, 
ability, and integrity, and long before he had reached 
middle age was considered one of the leading men of busi- 
ness in the county. 

My mother had a more serene career. In another part 
of these Reminiscences, saying something of my religious 
and political development, I shall speak again of her and 
of her parents. Suffice it here that her father prospered 
as a man of business, was known as ' ' Colonel, ' ' and also 
as "Squire" Dickson, and represented his county in the 
State legislature. He died when I was about three years 
old, and I vaguely remember being brought to him as he 
lay upon his death-bed. On one account, above all others, 
I have long looked back to him with pride. For the first 
public care of the early settlers had been a church, and 
the second a school. This school had been speedily de- 
veloped into Cortland Academy, which soon became fa- 



6 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION -I 

mous throughout all that region, and, as a boy of five or 
six years of age, I was very proud to read on the corner- 
stone of the Academy building my grandfather's name 
among those of the original founders. 

Not unlikely there thus came into my blood the strain 
which has led me ever since to feel that the building up of 
goodly institutions is more honorable than any other 
work,— an idea which was at the bottom of my efforts in 
developing the University of Michigan, and in founding 
Cornell University. 

To Cortland Academy students came from far and 
near ; and it soon began sending young men into the fore- 
most places of State and Church. At an early day, too, 
it began receiving young women and sending them forth 
to become the best of matrons. As my family left the 
place when I was seven years old I was never within 
its walls as a student, but it acted powerfully on my 
education in two ways,— it gave my mother the best of 
her education, and it gave to me a respect for scholarship. 
The library and collections, though small, suggested pur- 
suits better than the scramble for place or pelf; the 
public exercises, two or three times a year, led my 
thoughts, no matter how vaguely, into higher regions, and 
I shall never forget the awe which came over me when 
as a child, I saw Principal Woolworth, with his best stu- 
dents around him on the green, making astronomical ob- 
servations through a small telescope. 

Thus began my education into that great truth, so im- 
perfectly understood, as yet, in our country, that stores, 
shops, hotels, facilities for travel and traffic are not the 
highest things in civilization. 

This idea was strengthened in the family. Devoted as 
my father was to business, he always showed the greatest 
respect for men of thought. I have known him, even 
when most absorbed in his pursuits, to watch occasions 
for walking homeward with a clergyman or teacher, 
whose conversation he especially prized. There was scant 
respect in the family for the petty politicians of the 



BOYHOOD IN CENTRAL NEW YORK-1832-1850 7 

region; but there was great respect for the instructors 
of the academy, and for any college professor who hap- 
pened to be traveling through the town. I am now in my 
sixty-eighth year, and I write these lines from the Amer- 
ican Embassy in Berlin. It is my duty here, as it has 
been at other European cajDitals, to meet various high 
officials; but that old feeling, engendered in my child- 
hood, continues, and I bow to the representatives of 
the universities,— to the leaders in science, literature, and 
art, with a feeling of awe and respect far greater than 
to their so-called superiors,— princelings and high mili- 
tary or civil officials. 

Influences of a more direct sort came from a primary 
school. To this I was taken, when about three years old, 
for a reason which may strike the present generation 
as curious. The colored servant who had charge of me 
wished to learn to read— so she slipped into the school and 
took me with her. As a result, though my memory runs 
back distinctly to events near the beginning of my fourth 
year, it holds not the faintest recollection of a time when 
I could not read easily. The only studies which I recall 
with distinctness, as carried on before my seventh year, 
are arithmetic and geography. As to the former, the 
multiplication-table was chanted in chorus by the whole 
body of children, a rhythmical and varied movement of 
the arms being carried on at the same time. These exer- 
cises gave us pleasure and fastened the tables in our 
minds. As to geography, that gave pleasure in another 
way. The books contained pictures which stimulated my 
imagination and prompted me to read the adjacent text. 
There was no over-pressure. Mental recreation and in- 
formation were obtained in a loose way from "Rollo 
Books," " Peter Parley Books," "Sanford and Mer- 
ton," the "Children's Magazine," and the like. I now 
think it a pity that I was not allowed to read, instead of 
these, the novels of Scott and Cooper, which I discovered 
later. I devoutly thank Heaven that no such thing as 
a sensation newspaper was ever brought into the house,— 



8 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION -I 

even if there were one at that time,— which I doubt. As 
to physical recreation, there was plenty during the sum- 
mer in the fields and woods, and during the winter in 
coasting, building huts in the deep snow, and in storm- 
ing or defending the snow forts on the village green. One 
of these childish sports had a historical connection with 
a period which now seems very far away. If any old 
settler happened to pass during our snow-balling or 
our shooting with bows and arrows, he was sure to look 
on with interest, and, at some good shot, to cry out,— 
"Shoot Burgoyne!"— thus recalling his remembrances 
of the sharpshooters who brought about the great sur- 
render at Saratoga. 

In my seventh year my father was called to take charge 
of the new bank established at Syracuse, thirty miles dis- 
tant, and there the family soon joined him. I remember 
that coming through the Indian Reservation, on the road 
between the two villages, I was greatly impressed by the 
bowers and other decorations which had been used 
shortly before at the installation of a new Indian chief. 
It was the headquarters of the Onondagas,— formerly the 
great central tribe of the Iroquois,— the warlike confed- 
eracy of the Six Nations; and as, in a general way, the 
story was told me on that beautiful day in September a 
new world of romance was opened to me, so that Indian 
stories, and especially Cooper's novels, when I was al- 
lowed to read them, took on a new reality. 

Syracuse, which is now a city of one hundred and 
twenty thousand inhabitants, was then a straggling vil- 
lage of about five thousand. After much time lost in 
sundry poor ''select schools" I was sent to one of the 
public schools which was very good, and thence, when 
about twelve years old, to the preparatory department 
of the Syracuse Academy. 

There, by good luck, was Joseph A. Allen, the best 
teacher of English branches I have ever known. He had 
no rules and no system; or, rather, his rule was to have 
no rules, and his system was to have no system. To 
most teachers this would have been fatal; but he had 




V/- ? r/ /< 



V' /-/ f/ 



/$A-2 



BOYHOOD IN CENTRAL NEW YORK- 1832-1850 9 

genius. He seemed to divine the character and enter into 
the purpose of every boy. AVork under him was a plea- 
sure. His methods were very simple. Great attention 
was given to reading aloud from a book made up of se- 
lections from the best authors, and to recitals from these. 
Thus I stored up not only some of the best things in 
the older English writers, but inspiring poems of Bryant, 
Whittier, Longfellow, and other moderns. My only re- 
gret is that more of this was not given us. I recall, among 
treasures thus gained, which have been precious to me 
ever since, in many a weary or sleepless hour on land 
and sea, extracts from Shakspere, parts of Milton's 
"Samson Agonistes," and of his sonnets; Gray's 
"Elegy," Byron's "Ode to the Ocean," Campbell's 
"What 's Hallowed Ground?" Goldsmith's "Deserted 
Village," Longfellow's "Psalm of Life," Irving 's "Voy- 
age to Europe," and parts of Webster's "Reply to 
Hayne. ' ' 

At this school the wretched bugbear of English spell- 
ing was dealt with by a method which, so long as our pres- 
ent monstrous orthography continues, seems to me the 
best possible. During the last half-hour of every day, 
each scholar was required to have before him a copy- 
book, of which each page was divided into two columns. 
At the head of the first column was the word "Spelling"; 
at the head of the second column was the word "Cor- 
rected." The teacher then gave out to the school about 
twenty of the more important words in the reading-les- 
son of the day, and, as he thus dictated each word, each 
scholar wrote it in the column headed ' ' Spelling. ' ' When 
all the words were thus written, the first scholar was asked 
to spell from his book the first word; if misspelled, it 
was passed to the next, and so on until it was spelled cor- 
rectly; whereupon all who had made a mistake in writ- 
ing it made the proper correction on the opposite column. 
The result of this was that the greater part of us learned 
orthography practically. For the practical use of spell- 
ing comes in writing. 

The only mistake in Mr. Allen's teaching was too much 



10 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION-I 

attention to English grammar. The order ought to be, 
literature first, and grammar afterward. Perhaps there 
is no more tiresome trifling in the world for boys and 
girls than rote recitations and parsing from one of the 
usual grammatical text-books. 

As to mathematics, arithmetic was, perhaps, pushed 
too far into puzzles ; but geometry was made fascinating 
by showing its real applications and the beauty of its 
reasoning. It is the only mathematical study I ever loved. 
In natural science, though most of the apparatus of 
schools nowadays was wanting, Mr. Allen's instruction 
was far beyond his time. Never shall I forget my ex- 
cited interest when, occasionally, the village surgeon came 
in, and the whole school was assembled to see him dis- 
sect the eye or ear or heart of an ox. Physics, as then 
understood, was studied in a text-book, but there was 
illustration by simple apparatus, which fastened firmly 
in my mind the main facts and principles. 

The best impulse by this means came from the prin- 
cipal of the academy, Mr. Oren Root, — one of the pio- 
neers of American science, whose modesty alone stood in 
the way of his fame. I was too young to take direct in- 
struction from him, but the experiments which I saw him 
perform led me, with one or two of my mates, to construct 
an excellent electrical machine and subsidiary apparatus ; 
and with these, a small galvanic battery and an extempor- 
ized orrery, I diluted Professor Root's lectures with the 
teachings of my little books on natural philosophy and 
astronomy to meet the capacities of the younger boys in 
our neighborhood. 

Salient among my recollections of this period are the 
cries and wailing of a newly-born babe in the rooms at 
the academy occupied by the principal, and adjacent to 
our big school-room. Several decades of years later I had 
the honor of speaking on the platform of Cooper Insti- 
tute in company with this babe, who, as I write, is, I be- 
lieve, the very energetic Secretary of War in the Cabinet 
of President McKinley. 



BOYHOOD IN CENTRAL NEW YORK -1832 -1850 11 

Unfortunately for me, Mr. Root was soon afterward 
called away to a professorship at Hamilton College, and 
so, though living in the best of all regions for geological 
study, I was never properly grounded in that science, and 
as to botany, I am to this hour utterly ignorant of its 
simplest facts and principles. I count this as one of the 
mistakes in my education, — resulting in the loss of much 
valuable knowledge and high pleasure. 

As to physical development, every reasonable encour- 
agement was given to play. Mr. Allen himself came fre- 
quently to the play-grounds. He was an excellent musi- 
cian and a most helpful influence was exerted by singing, 
which was a daily exercise of the school. I then began 
taking lessons regularly in music and became proficient 
enough to play the organ occasionally in church ; the best 
result of this training being that it gave my life one of its 
deepest, purest, and most lasting pleasures. 

On the moral side, Mr. Allen influenced many of 
us by liberalizing and broadening our horizon. He was 
a disciple of Channing and an abolitionist, and, though he 
never made the slightest attempt to proselyte any of his 
scholars, the very atmosphere of the school made sec- 
tarian bigotry impossible. 

As to my general education outside the school I browsed 
about as best I could. My passion in those days was for 
machinery, and, above all, for steam machinery. The 
stationary and locomotive engines upon the newly-es- 
tablished railways toward Albany on the east and Buffalo 
on the west especially aroused my attention, and I came to 
know every locomotive, its history, character, and capabil- 
ities, as well as every stationary engine in the whole re- 
gion. My holiday excursions, when not employed in boat- 
ing or skating on the Onondaga Creek, or upon the lake, 
were usually devoted to visiting workshops, where the 
engine drivers and stokers seemed glad to talk with a 
youngster who took an interest in their business. Espe- 
cially interested was I in a rotary engine on "Barker's 
centrifugal principle, ' ' with which the inventor had prom- 



12 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION -I 

ised to propel locomotives at the rate of a hundred miles 
an hour, but which had been degraded to grinding bark in 
a tannery. I felt its disgrace keenly, as a piece of gross 
injustice ; but having obtained a small brass model, fitted 
to it a tin boiler and placed it on a little stern-wheel boat, 
I speedily discovered the secret of the indignity which 
had overtaken the machine, for no boat could carry a 
boiler large enough to supply steam for it. 

So, too, I knew every water-wheel in that part of the 
county, whether overshot, undershot, breast, or turbine. 
Everything in the nature of a motor had an especial fas- 
cination for me, and for the men in control of such power 
I entertained a respect which approached awe. 

Among all these, my especial reverence was given to the 
locomotive engineers; in my youthful mind they took on 
a heroic character. Often during the night watches I 
thought of them as braving storm and peril, responsible 
for priceless freights of human lives. Their firm, keen 
faces come back to me vividly through the mists of sixty 
years, and to this day I look up to their successors at the 
throttle with respectful admiration. 

After Professor Root's departure the Syracuse Acad- 
emy greatly declined, Mr. Allen being the only strong 
man left among its teachers, and, as I was to go 
to college, I was removed to a "classical school." This 
school was not at first very successful. Its teacher was 
a good scholar but careless. Under him I repeated the 
grammatical forms and rules in Latin and Greek, glibly, 
term after term, without really understanding their 
value. His great mistake, which seems to me a not in- 
frequent one, was taking it for granted that repeating 
rules and forms means understanding them and their ap- 
plication. But a catastrophe came. I had been promoted 
beyond my deserts from a lower into an upper Latin class, 
and at a public examination the Rev. Samuel Joseph 
May, who was present, asked me a question, to which I 
made an answer revealing utter ignorance of one of the 
simplest principles of Latin grammar. He was discon- 



BOYHOOD IN CENTRAL NEW YORK- 1832-1850 13 

certed at the result, I still more so, and our preceptor most 
of all. That evening my father very solemnly asked me 
about it. I was mortified beyond expression, did not 
sleep at all that night, and of my own accord, began 
reviewing my Andrews and Stoddard thoroughly and vig- 
orously. But this did not save the preceptor. A suc- 
cessor was called, a man who afterward became an emi- 
nent Presbyterian divine and professor in a Southern 
university, James W. Hoyt, one of the best and truest 
of men, and his manly, moral influence over his scholars 
was remarkable. Many of them have reached positions of 
usefulness, and I think they will agree that his influence 
upon their lives was most happy. The only drawback 
was that he was still very young, not yet through his 
senior year in Union College, and his methods in classical 
teaching were imperfect. He loved his classics and taught 
his better students to love them, but he was neither thor- 
ough in grammar, nor sure in translation, and this I 
afterward found to my sorrow. My friend and school- 
mate of that time, W. 0. S., published a few years since, 
in the "St. Nicholas Magazine," an account of this school. 
It was somewhat idealized, but we doubtless agree in 
thinking that the lack of grammatical drill was more than 
made up by the love of manliness, and the dislike of 
meanness, which was in those days our very atmosphere. 
Probably the best thing for my mental training was that 
Mr. Hoyt interested me in my Virgil, Horace, and Xeno- 
phon, and required me to write out my translations in the 
best English at my command. 

But to all his pupils he did not prove so helpful. One 
of them, though he has since become an energetic man 
of business on the Pacific Coast, was certainly not helped 
into his present position by his Latin ; for of all the trans- 
lations I have ever heard or read of, one of his was the 
worst. Being called to construe the first line of the 
JEneid, he proceeded as follows : 

"irma,-arms; virumque,— and a man; cano,— and a 
dog. ' ' There was a roar, and Mr. Hoyt, though evidently 



14 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION-I 

saddened, kept his temper. He did not, like the great 
and good Arnold of Rugby, under similar provocation, 
knock the offender down with the text-book. 

Still another agency in my development was the de- 
bating club, so inevitable in an American village. Its 
discussions were sometimes pretentious and always crude, 
but something was gained thereby. I remember that one 
of the subjects was stated as follows: "Which has done 
most harm, intemperance or fanaticism." The debate 
was without any striking feature until my schoolmate, 
W. O. S., brought up heavy artillery on the side of the 
anti-fanatics: namely, a statement of the ruin wrought 
by Mohammedanism in the East, and, above all, the de- 
struction of the great Alexandrian library by Caliph 
Omar ; and with such eloquence that all the argumentation 
which any of us had learned in the temperance meetings 
was paralyzed. 

On another occasion we debated the question: "Was 
the British Government justified in its treatment of 
Napoleon Bonaparte!" Much historical lore had been 
brought to bear on the question, when an impassioned 
young orator wound up a bitter diatribe against the great 
emperor as follows: "The British Government was jus- 
tified, and if for no other reason, by the Emperor Napo- 
leon's murder of the 'Duck de Engine' " (Due d'Enghien). 

As to education outside of the school very important 
to me had been the discovery, when I was about ten years 
old, of " 'The Monastery,' by the author of 'Waverley.' " 
Who the "author of 'Waverley' " was I neither knew nor 
cared, but read the book three times, end over end, in a 
sort of fascination. Unfortunately, novels and romances 
were kept under lock and key, as unfit reading for chil- 
dren, and it was some years before I reveled in Scott's 
other novels. That they would have been thoroughly 
good and wholesome reading for me I know, and about 
my sixteenth year they opened a new world to me and 
gave healthful play to my imagination. I also read and 
re-read Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," and, with plea- 



BOYHOOD IN CENTRAL NEW YORK-1832-1850 15 

sure even more intense, the earlier works of Dickens, 
which were then appearing. 

My only regret, as regards that time, is that, between the 
rather trashy "boys' books" on one side and the rather 
severe books in the family library on the other, I read 
far less of really good literature than I ought to have 
done. My reading was absolutely without a guide, hence 
fitful and scrappy; parts of Rollin's "Ancient History" 
and Lander's "Travels in Africa" being mixed up with 
"Robinson Crusoe" and "The Scottish Chiefs." Re- 
flection on my experience has convinced me that some 
kindly guidance in the reading of a fairly scholarly boy 
is of the utmost importance, and never more so than now, 
when books are so many and attractive. I should lay 
much stress, also, on the hearing of good literature well 
read, and the interspersing of such reading with some 
remarks by the reader, pointing out the main beauties 
of the pieces thus presented. 

About my tenth year occurred an event, apparently 
trivial, but really very important in my mental devel- 
opment during many years afterward. My father 
brought home one day, as a gift to my mother, a hand- 
some quarto called "The Gallery of British Artists." 
It contained engravings from pictures by Turner, Stan- 
field, Cattermole, and others, mainly representing scenes 
from Shakspere, Scott, Burns, picturesque architecture, 
and beautiful views in various parts of Europe. Of this 
book I never tired. It aroused in me an intense desire 
to know more of the subjects represented, and this desire 
has led me since to visit and to study every cathedral, 
church, and town hall of any historical or architectural 
significance in Europe, outside the Spanish peninsula. 
But, far more important, it gave an especial zest to nearly 
all Scott's novels, and especially to the one which I have 
always thought the most fascinating, "Quentin Dur- 
ward. ' ' This novel led me later, not merely to visit Liege, 
and Orleans, and Clery, and Tours, but to devour the 
chronicles and histories of that period, to become deeply 



16 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION -I 

interested in historical studies, and to learn how great 
principles lie hidden beneath the surface of events. The 
first of these principles I ever clearly discerned was dur- 
ing niy reading of "Quentin Durward" and "Anne of 
Geierstein," when there was revealed to me the secret 
of the centralization of power in Europe, and of the tri- 
umph of monarchy over feudalism. 

In my sixteenth and seventeenth years another element 
entered into my education. Syracuse, as the central city 
of the State, was the scene of many conventions and pub- 
lic meetings. That was a time of very deep earnestness in 
political matters. The last great efforts were making, 
by the more radical, peaceably to prevent the extension 
of slavery, and, by the more conservative, peaceably to 
preserve the Union. The former of these efforts interested 
me most. There were at Syracuse frequent public de- 
bates between the various groups of the anti-slavery 
party represented by such men as Gerrit Smith, Wendell 
Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, John Parker Hale, 
Samuel Joseph May, and Frederick Douglas. They took 
strong hold upon me and gave me a higher idea of a man 's 
best work in life. That was the bloom period of the old 
popular lecture. It was the time when lectures were ex- 
pected to build character and increase knowledge; the 
sensation and buffoon business which destroyed the sys- 
tem had not yet come in. I feel to this hour the good in- 
fluence of lectures then heard, in the old City Hall at 
Syracuse, from such men as President Mark Hopkins, 
Bishop Alonzo Potter, Senator Hale of New Hampshire, 
Emerson, Ware, Whipple, and many others. 

As to recreative reading at this period, the author who 
exercised the strongest influence over me was Charles 
Kingsley. His novels "Alton Locke" and "Yeast" in- 
terested me greatly in efforts for doing away with old 
abuses in Europe, and his "Two Years After" increased 
my hatred for negro slavery in America. His "West- 
ward Ho!" extended my knowledge of the Elizabethan 
period and increased my manliness. Of this period, too, 



BOYHOOD IN CENTRAL NEW YORK- 1832-1850 17 

was my reading of Lowell's Poems, many of which I 
greatly enjoyed. His "Biglow Papers" were a perpetual 
delight; the dialect was familiar to me since, in the lit- 
tle New England town transplanted into the heart of 
central New York, in which I was born, the less educated 
people used it, and the dry and droll Yankee expres- 
sions of our "help" and "hired man" were a source of 
constant amusement in the family. 

In my seventeenth year came a trial. My father had 
taken a leading part in establishing a parish school for 
St. Paul's church in Syracuse, in accordance with the 
High Church views of our rector, Dr. Gregory, and there 
was finally called to the mastership a young candidate 
for orders, a brilliant scholar and charming man, who has 
since become an eminent bishop of the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church. To him was intrusted my final prepara- 
tion for college. I had always intended to enter one 
of the larger New England universities, but my teacher 
was naturally in favor of his Alma Mater, and the influ- 
ence of our bishop, Dr. de Lancey, being also thrown 
powerfully into the scale, my father insisted on placing 
me at a small Protestant Episcopal college in western 
New York. I went most reluctantly. There were in the 
faculty several excellent men, one of whom afterward 
became a colleague of my own in Cornell University, and 
proved of the greatest value to it. Unfortunately, we of 
the lower college classes could have very little instruc- 
tion from him; still there was good instruction from 
others; the tutor in Greek, James Morrison Clarke, was 
one of the best scholars I have ever known. 

It was in the autumn of 1849 that I went into residence 
at the little college and was assigned a very unprepos- 
sessing room in a very ugly barrack. Entering my new 
quarters I soon discovered about me various cabalistic 
signs, some of them evidently made by heating large iron 
keys, and pressing them against the woodwork. On 
inquiring I found that the room had been occupied some 
years before by no less a personage than Philip Spencer, 

I.-2 



18 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION— I 

a member of the famous Spencer family of Albany, who, 
having passed some years at this little college, and never 
having been able to get out of the freshman class, had 
gone to another institution of about the same grade, had 
there founded a Greek letter fraternity which is now 
widely spread among American universities, and then, 
through the influence of his father, who was Secretary 
of War, had been placed as a midshipman under Com- 
modore McKenzie on the brig-of-war Somers. On the 
coast of Africa a mutiny was discovered, and as, on ex- 
amination, young Spencer was found at the head of it, 
and papers discovered in his cabin revealed the plan of 
seizing the ship and using it in a career of piracy, the 
young man, in spite of his connection with a member of 
the Cabinet, was hanged at the yard-arm with two of his 
associates. 

The most curious relic of him at the college was pre- 
served in the library of the Hermean Society. It was a 
copy of "The Pirates' Own Book": a glorification of the 
exploits of "Blackbeard" and other great freebooters, 
profusely adorned with illustrations of their joys and tri- 
umphs. This volume bore on the fly-leaf the words, ' ' Pre- 
sented to the Hermean Society by Philip Spencer," and 
was in those days shown as a great curiosity. 

The college was at its lowest ebb; of discipline there 
was none; there were about forty students, the majority 
of them, sons of wealthy churchmen, showing no inclina- 
tion to work and much tendency to dissipation. The 
authorities of the college could not afford to expel or even 
offend a student, for its endowment was so small that it 
must have all the instruction fees possible, and must keep 
on good terms with the wealthy fathers of its scapegrace 
students. The scapegraces soon found this out, and the 
result was a little pandemonium. Only about a dozen 
of our number studied at all; the rest, by translations, 
promptings, and evasions escaped without labor. I have 
had to do since, as student, professor, or lecturer, with 
some half-dozen large universities at home and abroad, 



BOYHOOD IN CENTRAL NEW YORK-1832-1850 19 

and in all of these together have not seen so much carous- 
ing and wild dissipation as I then saw in this little 
"Church college" of which the especial boast was that, 
owing to the small number of its students, it was "able 
to exercise a direct Christian influence upon every young 
man committed to its care." 

The evidences of this Christian influence were not clear. 
The president of the college, Dr. Benjamin Hale, was a 
clergyman of the highest character; a good scholar, an 
excellent preacher, and a wise administrator; but his 
stature was very small, his girth very large, and his hair 
very yellow. When, then, on the thirteenth day of the 
month, there was read at chapel from the Psalter the 
words, "And there was little Benjamin, their ruler," 
very irreverent demonstrations were often made by the 
students, presumably engaged in worship ; demonstrations 
so mortifying, indeed, that at last the president frequently 
substituted for the regular Psalms of the day one of the 
beautiful "Selections" of Psalms which the American 
Episcopal Church has so wisely incorporated into its 
prayer-book. 

But this was by no means the worst indignity which 
these youth "under direct Christian influence" perpe- 
trated upon their reverend instructors. It was my priv- 
ilege to behold a professor, an excellent clergyman, seek- 
ing to quell hideous riot in a student's room, buried under 
a heap of carpets, mattresses, counterpanes, and blankets ; 
to see another clerical professor forced to retire through 
the panel of a door under a shower of lexicons, boots, and 
brushes, and to see even the president himself, on one oc- 
casion, obliged to leave his lecture-room by a ladder from 
a window, and, on another, kept at bay by a shower of 
beer-bottles. 

One favorite occupation was rolling cannon-balls along 
the corridors at midnight, with frightful din and much 
damage: a tutor, having one night been successful 
in catching and confiscating two of these, pounced from 
his door the next night upon a third; but this having 



20 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION -I 

been heated nearly to redness and launched from a shovel, 
the result was that he wore bandages upon his hands for 
many days. 

Most ingenious were the methods for " training fresh- 
men,"— one of the mildest being the administration of 
soot and water by a hose-pipe thrust through the broken 
panel of a door. Among general freaks I remember see- 
ing a horse turned into the chapel, and a stuffed wolf, 
dressed in a surplice, placed upon the roof of that sacred 
edifice. 

But the most elaborate thing of the kind I ever saw 
was the breaking up of a "Second Adventist" meeting 
by a score of student roysterers. An itinerant fanatic had 
taken an old wooden meeting-house in the lower part 
of the town, had set up on either side of the pulpit large 
canvas representations of the man of brass with feet of 
clay, and other portentous characters of the prophecies, 
and then challenged the clergy to meet him in public de- 
bate. At the appointed time a body of college youth ap- 
peared, most sober in habit and demure in manner, hav- 
ing at their head "Bill" Howell of Black Rock and 
"Tom" Clark of Manlius, the two wildest miscreants in 
the sophomore class, each over six feet tall, the latter 
dressed as a respectable farmer, and the former as a 
country clergyman, wearing a dress-coat, a white cravat, 
a tall black hat wrapped in crape, leaning on a heavy, 
ivory-knobbed cane, and carrying ostentatiously a Greek 
Testament. These disguised malefactors, having taken 
their seats in the gallery directly facing the pulpit, the 
lecturer expressed his "satisfaction at seeing clergymen 
present," and began his demonstrations. For about five 
minutes all went well; then "Bill" Howell solemnly arose 
and, in a snuffling voice, asked permission to submit a few 
texts from scripture. Permission being granted, he put 
on a huge pair of goggles, solemnly opened his Greek Tes- 
tament, read emphatically the first passage which attrac- 
ted his attention and impressively asked the lecturer what 
he had to say to it. At this, the lecturer, greatly puzzled, 



BOYHOOD IN CENTRAL NEW YORK-1832-1850 21 

asked what the reverend gentleman was reading. Upon 
this Howell read in New Testament Greek another utterly 
irrelevant passage. In reply the lecturer said, rather 
roughly, "If you will speak English I will answer you." 
At this Howell said with the most humble suavity, "Do 
I understand that the distinguished gentleman does not 
recognize what I have been reading?" The preacher 
answered, "I don't understand any such gibberish; 
speak English." Thereupon Howell threw back his long 
black hair and launched forth into eloquent denunciation 
as follows: "Sir, is it possible that you come here to 
interpret to us the Holy Bible and do not recognize the 
language in which that blessed book was written? Sir, 
do you dare to call the very words of the Almighty 'gib- 
berish?' " At this all was let loose; some students put 
asafetida on the stove; others threw pigeon-shot against 
the ceiling and windows, making a most appalling din, 
and one wretch put in deadly work with a syringe thrust 
through the canvas representation of the man of brass 
with feet of clay. But, alas, Constable John Dey had 
recognized Howell and Clark, even amid their disguises. 
He had dealt with them too often before. The next tab- 
leau showed them, with their tall hats crushed over their 
heads, belaboring John Dey and his myrmidons, and pres- 
ently, with half a dozen other ingenuous youth, they were 
haled to the office of justice. The young judge who 
officiated on this occasion was none other than a person- 
age who will be mentioned with great respect more than 
once in these reminiscences, — Charles James Folger,— 
afterward my colleague in the State Senate, Chief Justice 
of the State and Secretary of the Treasury of the United 
States. He had met Howell often, for they were members 
of the same Greek letter fraternity,— the thrice illustrious 
Sigma Phi,— and, only a few days before, Howell had 
presented me to him; but there was no fraternal bond 
visible now; justice was sternly implacable, and good 
round fines were imposed upon all the culprits caught. 
The philosophy of all this waywardness and dissipation 



22 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION -I 

was very simple. There was no other outlet for the ani- 
mal spirits of these youth. Athletics were unknown ; there 
was no gymnasium, no ball-playing, and, though the col- 
lege was situated on the shore of one of the most beautiful 
lakes in the world, no boating. As regards my own per- 
sonal relation to this condition of things I have pictured, it 
was more that of a good-natured spectator than of an ac- 
tive accomplice. My nearest friends were in the thick of 
it, but my tastes kept me out of most of it. I was fond of 
books, and, in the little student's library in my college 
building I reveled. Moreover, I then began to accumulate 
for myself the library which has since grown to such large 
proportions. Still the whole life of the place became more 
and more unsatisfactory to me, and I determined, at any 
cost, to escape from it and find some seat of learning where 
there was less frolic and more study. 



CHAPTER II 

YALE AND EUEOPE— 1850-1857 

AT the close of my year at the little Western New York 
_ College I felt that it was enough time wasted, and, 
anxious to try for something better, urged upon my father 
my desire to go to one of the larger New England univer- 
sities. But to this he would not listen. He was assured by 
the authorities of the little college that I had been doing 
well, and his churchmanship, as well as his respect for the 
bishop, led him to do what was very unusual with him— to 
refuse my request. Up to this period he had allowed me to 
take my own course; but now he was determined that I 
should take his. He was one of the kindest of men, but he 
had stern ideas as to proper subordination, and these he 
felt it his duty to maintain. I was obliged to make a coup 
d'etat, and for a time it cost me dear. Braving the cen- 
sure of family and friends, in the early autumn of 1850 I 
deliberately left the college, and took refuge with my old 
instructor P , who had prepared me for college at Syra- 
cuse, and who was now principal of the academy at 
Moravia, near the head of Owasco Lake, some fifty miles 
distant. To thus defy the wishes of those dearest to me 
was a serious matter. My father at first took it deeply to 
heart. His letters were very severe. He thought my 
career wrecked, avowed that he had lost all interest in it, 
and declared that he would rather have received news of 
my death than of such a disgrace. But I knew that my dear 
mother was on my side. Her letters remained as affec- 
tionate as ever ; and I determined to atone for my disobe- 

23 



24 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION- II 

dience by severe and systematic work. I began to study 
more earnestly than ever before, reviewed my mathe- 
matics and classics vigorously, and began a course of read- 
ing which has had great influence on all my life since. 
Among my books was D'Aubigne's "History of the Refor- 
mation." Its deficiencies were not of a sort to harm me, 
its vigor and enthusiasm gave me a great impulse. I not 
only read but studied it, and followed it with every other 
book on the subject that I could find. No reading ever did 
a man more good. It not only strengthened and deepened 
my better purposes, but it continued powerfully the im- 
pulse given me by the historical novels of Scott, and led 
directly to my devoting myself to the study and teaching 
of modern history. Of other books which influenced me 
about this period, Emerson's "Representative Men" was 
one; another was Carlyle's "Past and Present," in which 
the old Abbot of Bury became one of my ideals; still 
another was Ruskin 's ' ' Seven Lamps of Architecture ' ' ; 
and to such a degree that this art has given to my life some 
of its greatest pleasures. Ruskin was then at his best. 
He had not yet been swept from his bearings by popular 
applause, or intoxicated by his own verbosity. In later 
years he lost all influence over me, for, in spite of his 
wonderful style, he became trivial, whimsical, peevish, 
goody-goody;— talking to grown men and women as a 
dyspeptic Sunday-school teacher might lay down the 
law to classes of little girls. As regards this later 
period, Max Nordau is undoubtedly right in speaking of 
Ruskin 's mind as "turbid and fallacious"; but the time 
of which I speak was his best, and his influence upon 
me was good. I remember especially that his "Lamp 
of Power" made a very deep impression upon me. Car- 
lyle, too, was at his best. He was the simple, strong 
preacher;— with nothing of the spoiled cynic he afterward 
became. 

The stay of three months with my friend— the future 
bishop— in the little country town, was also good for me 
physically. In our hours of recreation we roamed through 



YALE AND EUROPE-1850-1857 25 

the neighboring woods, shooting squirrels and pigeons, 
with excellent effect on my health. Meantime I kept up 
my correspondence with all the members of the family, 
save my father;— from him there was no sign. But at last 
came a piece of good news. He was very fond of music, 
and on the arrival of Jenny Lind in the United States he 
went to New York to attend her concerts. During one of 
these my mother turned suddenly toward him and said: 
''What a pity that the boy cannot hear this ; how he would 
enjoy it!" My father answered, "Tell him to come 
home and see us. ' ' My mother, of course, was not slow iu 
writing me, and a few days later my father cordially 
greeted my home-coming, and all difficulties seemed over. 
Shortly after Christmas he started with me for Yale ; but 
there soon appeared a lion in the path. Our route lay 
through Hartford, the seat of Trinity College, and to my 
consternation I found at the last moment that he had 
letters from our rector and others to the president and 
professors of that institution. Still more alarming, we 
had hardly entered the train when my father discovered 
a Trinity student on board. Of course, the youth spoke 
in the highest terms of his college and of his faculty, and 
more and more my father was pleased with the idea of 
staying a day or two at Hartford, taking a look at Trinity, 
and presenting our letters of introduction. During a con- 
siderably extended career in the diplomatic service I have 
had various occasions to exercise tact, care, and discre- 
tion, but I do not think that my efforts on all these together 
equaled those which I then put forth to avoid stopping 
at Hartford. At last my father asked me, rather severely, 
why I cared so much about going to New Haven, and I 
framed an answer offhand to meet the case, saying that 
Yale had an infinitely finer library than Trinity. There- 
upon he said, "My boy, if you will go to Trinity College 
I will give you the best private library in the United 
States. ' ' I said, " No, I am going to New Haven ; I started 
for New Haven, and I will go there. ' ' I had never braved 
him before. He said not a word. We passed quietly 



26 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION-II 

through Hartford, and a day or two later I was entered 
at Yale. 

It was a happy change. I respected the institution, for 
its discipline, though at times harsh, was, on the whole, 
just, and thereby came a great gain to my own self-respect. 
But as to the education given, never was a man more 
disappointed at first. The president and professors were 
men of high character and attainments ; but to the lower 
classes the instruction was given almost entirely by tutors, 
who took up teaching for bread-winning while going 
through the divinity school. Naturally most of the 
work done under these was perfunctory. There was too 
much reciting by rote and too little real intercourse be- 
tween teacher and taught. The instructor sat in a box, 
heard students' translations without indicating anything 
better, and their answers to questions with very few sug- 
gestions or remarks. The first text-book in Greek was 
Xenophon's ' ' Memorabilia, " and one of the first men 
called up was my classmate Delano Goddard. He made an 
excellent translation,— clean, clear, in thoroughly good 
English ; but he elicited no attention from the instructor, 
and was then put through sundry grammatical puzzles, 
among which he floundered until stopped by the word, 
' * Sufficient. " Soon afterward another was called up who 
rattled off glibly a translation without one particle of liter- 
ary merit, and was then plied with the usual grammatical 
questions. Being asked to "synopsize" the Greek verb, 
he went through the various moods and tenses, in all sorts 
of ways and in all possible combinations, his tongue rat- 
tling like the clapper of a mill. When he sat down my 
next neighbor said to me, "that man will be our valedic- 
torian." This disgusted me. If that was the style of 
classical scholarship at Yale, I knew that there was no- 
thing in it for me. It turned out as my friend said. That 
glib reciter did become the valedictorian of the class, but 
stepped from the commencement stage into nothingness, 
and was never heard of more. Goddard became the 
editor of one of the most important metropolitan news- 



YALE AND EUROPE-1850-1857 27 

papers of the United States, and, before his early death, 
distinguished himself as a writer on political and histori- 
cal topics. 

Nor was it any better in Latin. We were reading, dur- 
ing that term the "De Senectute" of Cicero,— a beautiful 
book; but to our tutor it was neither more nor less than 
a series of pegs on which to hang Zumpt's rules for the 
subjunctive mood. The translation was hurried through, 
as of little account. Then came questions regarding the 
subjunctives;— questions to which very few members of 
the class gave any real attention. The best Latin scholar 

in the class, G. W. S , since so distinguished as the 

London correspondent of the ' ' New York Tribune, ' ' and, 
at present, as the New Y"ork correspondent of the London 
"Times," having one day announced to some of us, — with 
a very round expletive,— that he would answer no more 
such foolish questions, the tutor soon discovered his recal- 
citrancy, and thenceforward plied him with such ques- 
tions and nothing else. S always answered that he 

was not prepared on them; with the result that at the 
Junior Exhibition he received no place on the programme. 

In the junior year matters improved somewhat; but, 
though the professors were most of them really distin- 
guished men, and one at least, James Hadley, a scholar 
who, at Berlin or Leipsic, would have drawn throngs of 
students from all Christendom, they were fettered by a 
system which made everything of gerund-grinding and 
nothing of literature. 

The worst feature of the junior year was the fact that 
through two terms, during five hours each week, "recita- 
tions" were heard by a tutor in "Olmsted's Natural Phi- 
losophy." The text-book was simply repeated by rote. Not 
one student in fifty took the least interest in it; and 
the man who could give the words of the text most glibly 
secured the best marks. One exceedingly unfortunate 
result of this kind of instruction was that it so disgusted 
the class with the whole subject, that the really excellent 
lectures of Professor Olmsted, illustrated by probably 



28 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION -II 

the best apparatus then possessed by any American uni- 
versity, were voted a bore. Almost as bad was the his- 
torical instruction given by Professor James Hadley. It 
consisted simply in hearing the student repeat from mem- 
ory the dates from ' ' Piitz 's Ancient History. ' ' How a man 
so gifted as Hadley could have allowed any part of his 
work to be so worthless, it is hard to understand. And, 
worse remained behind. He had charge of the class in 
Thucydides; but with every gift for making it a means 
of great good to us, he taught it in the perfunctory way of 
that period;— calling on each student to construe a few 
lines, asking a few grammatical questions, and then, with 
hardly ever a note or comment, allowing him to sit down. 
Two or three times during a term something would occur 
to draw Hadley out, and then it delighted us all to hear 
him. I recall, to this hour, with the utmost pleasure, some 
of Ms remarks which threw bright light into the general 
subject; but alas! they were few and far between. 

The same thing must be said of Professor Thatcher's 
instruction in Tacitus. It was always the same mechan- 
ical sort of thing, with, occasionally, a few remarks which 
really aroused interest. 

In the senior year the influence of President Woolsey 
and Professor Porter was strong for good. Though the 
"Yale system" fettered them somewhat, their personality 
often broke through it. Yet it amazes me to remember 
that during a considerable portion of our senior year no 
less a man than Woolsey gave instruction in history by 
hearing men recite the words of a text-book;— and that 
text-book the Rev. John Lord's little, popular treatise 
on the "Modern History of Europe!" Far better was 
Woolsey 's instruction in Guizot. That was stimulating. 
It not only gave some knowledge of history, but suggested 
thought upon it. In this he was at his best. He had not 
at that time begun his new career as a professor of Inter- 
national Law, and that subject was treated by a kindly 
old governor of the State, in a brief course of instruction, 
which was, on the whole, rather inadequate. Professor 



YALE AND EUROPE -1850-1857 29 

Porter's instruction in philosophy opened our eyes and 
led us to do some thinking for ourselves. In political econ- 
omy, during the senior year, President Woolsey heard the 
senior class "recite" from Wayland's small treatise, 
which was simply an abridged presentation of the Man- 
chester view, the most valuable part of this instruction 
being the remarks by Woolsey himself, who discussed 
controverted questions briefly but well. He also delivered, 
during one term, a course of lectures upon the historical 
relations between the German States, which had some in- 
terest, but, not being connected with our previous in- 
struction, took little hold upon us. As to natural science, 
we had in chemistry and geology, doubtless, the best 
courses then offered in the United States. The first was 
given by Benjamin Silliman, the elder, an American pio- 
neer in science, and a really great character; the second, 
by James Dwight Dana, and in his lecture-room one felt 
himself in the hands of a master. I cannot forgive my- 
self for having yielded to the general indifference of the 
class toward all this instruction. It was listlessly heard, 
and grievously neglected. The fault was mainly our own ; 
—but it was partly due to "The System," which led stu- 
dents to neglect all studies which did not tell upon 
' ' marks ' ' and ' ' standing. ' ' 

Strange to say, there was not, during my whole course 
at Yale, a lecture upon any period, subject, or person in 
literature, ancient or modern:— our only resource, in this 
field, being the popular lecture courses in the town each 
winter, which generally contained one or two presenta- 
tions of literary subjects. Of these, that which made the 
greatest impression upon me was by Ralph Waldo Emer- 
son. Sundry lectures in my junior year, by Whipple, and 
at a later period by George William Curtis, also influenced 
me. It was one of the golden periods of English liter- 
ature, the climax of the Victorian epoch;— the period of 
Wordsworth, Tennyson, and the Brownings, of Thack- 
eray and Dickens, of Macaulay and Carlyle on one side 
of the Atlantic, and of Emerson, Irving, Hawthorne, Ban- 



30 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION-II 

croft, Prescott, Motley, Lowell, Longfellow, Horace Bush- 
nell, and their compeers on the other. Hence came strong 
influences ; but in dealing with them we were left to our- 
selves. 

Very important in shaping my intellectual development 
at this time were my fellow-students. The class of 1853 
was a very large one for that day, and embraced far more 
than the usual proportion of active-minded men. Walks 
and talks with these were of great value to me; thence 
came some of my best impulses and suggestions to reading 
and thought. 

Especially fortunate was I in my "churn," the friend 
that stood closest to me. He was the most conservative 
young man I ever knew, and at the very opposite pole 
from me on every conceivable subject. But his deeply 
religious character, his thorough scholarship, and his real 
devotion to my welfare, were very precious to me. Our 
very differences were useful, since they obliged me to 
revise with especial care all my main convictions and 
trains of thought. He is now, at this present writing, the 
Bishop of Michigan, and a most noble and affectionate 
pastor of his flock. 

The main subjects of interest to us all had a political 
bearing. Literature was considered as mainly subsidiary 
to political discussion. The great themes, in the minds 
of those who tried to do any thinking, were connected with 
the tremendous political struggle then drawing toward 
its climax in civil war. Valuable to me was my member- 
ship of sundry student fraternities. They were vealy, 
but there was some nourishment in them ; by far the best 
of all being a senior club which, though it had adopted 
a hideous emblem, was devoted to offhand discussions of 
social and political questions;— on the whole, the best club 
I have ever known. 

The studies which interested me most were political and 
historical ; from classical studies the gerund-grinding and 
reciting by rote had completely weaned me. One of our 
Latin tutors, having said to me: "If you would try you 



YALE AND EUROPE- 1850-1857 31 

could become a first-rate classical scholar," I answered: 

"Mr. B , I have no ambition to become a classical 

scholar, as scholarship is understood here. ' ' 

I devoted myself all the more assiduously to study on 
my own lines, especially in connection with the subjects 
taught by President Woolsey in the senior year, and the 
one thing which encouraged me was that, at the public 
reading of essays, mine seemed to interest the class. Yet 
my first trial of strength with my classmates in this re- 
spect did not apparently turn out very well. It was at 
a prize debate, in one of the large open societies, but 
while I had prepared my speech with care, I had given 
no thought to its presentation, and, as a result, the judges 
passed me by. Next day a tutor told me that Professor 
Porter wished to see me. He had been one of the judges, 
but it never occurred to me that he could have summoned 
me for anything save some transgression of college rules. 
But, on my arrival at his room, he began discussing my 
speech, said some very kind things of its matter, alluded 
to some defects in its manner, and all with a kindness 
which won my heart. Thus began a warm personal friend- 
ship which lasted through his professorship and presi- 
dency to the end of his life. His kindly criticism was 
worth everything to me ; it did far more for me than any 
prize could have done. Few professors realize how much 
a little friendly recognition may do for a student. To 
this hour I bless Dr. Porter's memory. 

Nor did my second effort, a competition in essay- writing, 
turn out much better. My essay was too labored, too 
long, too crabbedly written, and it brought me only half 
a third prize. 

This was in the sophomore year. But in the junior year 
came a far more important competition ; that for the Yale 
Literary Gold Medal, and without any notice of my in- 
tention to any person, I determined to try for it. Being 
open to the entire university, the universal expectation 
was that it would be awarded to a senior, as had hitherto 
been the case, and speculations were rife as to what mem- 



32 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION-II 

ber of the graduating class would take it. When the com- 
mittee made their award to the essay on "The Greater 
Distinctions in Statesmanship," opened the sealed en- 
velopes and assigned the prize to me, a junior, there was 
great surprise. The encouragement came to me just at 
the right time, and did me great good. Later, there were 
awarded to me the first Clarke Prize for the discussion 
of a political subject, and the De Forest Gold Medal, then 
the most important premium awarded in the university, 
my subject being, "The Diplomatic History of Modern 
Times." Some details regarding this latter success may 
serve to show certain ways in which influence can be ex- 
erted powerfully upon a young man. The subject had 
been suggested to me by hearing Edwin Forrest in Bul- 
wer 's drama of ' ' Richelieu. ' ' The character of the great 
cardinal, the greatest statesman that France has produced, 
made a deep impression upon me, and suggested the sub- 
jects in both the Yale Literary and the De Forest com- 
petitions, giving me not only the initial impulse, but main- 
taining that interest to which my success was largely due. 
Another spur to success was even more effective. Having 
one day received a telegram from my father, asking me 
to meet him in New York, I did so, and passed an hour 
with him, all the time at a loss to know why he had sent 
for me. But, finally, just as I was leaving the hotel to 
return to New Haven, he said, "By the way, there is still 
another prize to be competed for, the largest of all." 
"Yes," I answered, "the De Forest; but I have little 
chance for that ; for though I shall probably be one of the 
six Townsend prize men admitted to the competition, there 
are other speakers so much better, that I have little hope 
of taking it." He gave me rather a contemptuous look,, 
and said, somewhat scornfully : " If I were one of the first 
six competitors, in a class of over a hundred men, I would 
try hard to be the first one." That was all. He said no- 
thing more, except good-bye. On my way to New Haven 
I thought much of this, and on arriving, went to a student, 
who had some reputation as an elocutionist, and engaged 



YALE AND EUROPE-1850-1857 33 

him for a course in vocal gymnastics. When he wished 
me to recite my oration before him, I declined, saying that 
it must be spoken in my own way, not in his; that his 
way might be better, but that mine was my own, and I 
would have no other. He confined himself, therefore, to 
a course of vocal gymnastics, and the result was a 
surprise to myself and all my friends. My voice, from 
being weak and hollow, became round, strong, and flexible. 
I then went to a student in the class above my own, a 
natural and forcible speaker, and made an arrangement 
with him to hear me pronounce my oration, from time to 
time, and to criticize it in a common-sense way. This he 
did. At passages where he thought my manner wrong, 
he raised his finger, gave me an imitation of my manner, 
then gave the passage in the way he thought best, and al- 
lowed me to choose between his and mine. The result was 
that, at the public competition, I was successful. This 
experience taught me what I conceive to be the true theory 
of elocutionary training in our universities— vocal gym- 
nastics, on one side ; common-sense criticism, on the other. 
As to my physical education: with a constitution far 
from robust, there was need of special care. Fortunately, 
I took to boating. In an eight-oared boat, spinning down 

the harbor or up the river, with G. W. S at the stroke 

—as earnest and determined in the Undine then as in the 
New York office of the London ' ' Times ' ' now, every condi- 
tion was satisfied for bodily exercise and mental recrea- 
tion. I cannot refrain from mentioning that our club sent 
the first challenge to row that ever passed between Yale 
and Harvard, even though I am obliged to confess that we 
were soundly beaten ; but neither that defeat at Lake Quin- 
sigamond, nor the many absurdities which have grown out 
of such competitions since, have prevented my remain- 
ing an apostle of college boating from that day to this. If 
guarded by common-sense rules enforced with firmness 
by college faculties, it gives the maximum of healthful ex- 
ercise, with a minimum of danger. The most detestable 
product of college life is the sickly cynic; and a thor- 

I.-3 



34 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION-II 

ough course in boating, under a good stroke oar, does as 
much as anything to make him impossible. 

At the close of my undergraduate life at Yale I went 
abroad for nearly three years, and fortunately had, for 
a time, one of the best of companions, my college mate, 
Gilman, later president of Johns Hopkins University, and 
now of the Carnegie Institution, who was then, as he has 
been ever since, a source of good inspirations to me, — 
especially in the formation of my ideas regarding educa- 
tion. During the few weeks I then passed in England I 
saw much which broadened my views in Various ways. 
History was made alive to me by rapid studies of persons 
and places while traveling, and especially was this the 
case during a short visit to Oxford, where I received some 
strong impressions, which will be referred to in another 
chapter. Dining at Christ Church with Osborne Gordon, 
an eminent tutor of that period, I was especially interested 
in his accounts of John Ruskin, who had been his pupil. 
Then, and afterward, while enjoying the hospitalities of 
various colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, I saw the ex- 
cellencies of their tutorial system, but also had my eyes 
opened to some of their deficiencies. 

Going thence to Paris I settled down in the family of 
a very intelligent French professor, where I remained 
nearly a year. Not a word of English was spoken in the 
family; and, with the daily lesson in a French method, 
and lectures at the Sorbonne and College de France, the 
new language soon became familiar. The lectures then 
heard strengthened my conception of what a university 
should be. Among my professors were such men as St. 
Marc Girardin, Arnould, and, at a later period, Laboulaye. 
In connection with the lecture-room work, my studies in 
modern history were continued, especially by reading Gui- 
zot, Thierry, Mignet, Thiers, Chateaubriand, and others, 
besides hearing various masterpieces in French dramatic 
literature, as given at the Theatre Francais, where Rachel 
was then in her glory, and at the Odeon, where Mile. 



YALE AND EUROPE-1850-1857 35 

Georges, who had begun her career under the first Napo- 
leon, was ending it under Napoleon III. 

My favorite subject of study was the French Revolu- 
tion, and, in the intervals of reading and lectures, I sought 
out not only the spots noted in its history, but the men 
who had taken part in it. At the Hotel des Invalides I 
talked with old soldiers, veterans of the Republic and of 
the Napoleonic period, discussing with them the events 
through which they had passed; and, at various other 
places and times, with civilians who had heard orations 
at the Jacobin and Cordelier clubs, and had seen the guil- 
lotine at work. The most interesting of my old soldiers 
at the Invalides wore upon his breast the cross of the 
Legion of Honor, which he had received from Napoleon 
at Austerlitz. Still another had made the frightful 
marches through the Spanish Peninsula under Soult, and 
evidently felt very humble in the presence of those who 
had taken part in the more famous campaigns under Napo- 
leon himself. The history of another of my old soldiers 
was pathetic. He was led daily into the cabaret, where my 
guests were wont to fight their battles o 'er again, his eyes 
absolutely sightless, and his hair as white as snow. Get- 
ting into conversation with him I learned that he had gone 
to Egypt with Bonaparte, had fought at the Battle of the 
Pyramids, had been blinded by the glaring sun on the 
sand of the desert, and had been an inmate at the Invalides 
ever since;— more than half a century. At a later period 
I heard from another of my acquaintances how, as a 
schoolboy, he saw Napoleon beside his camp-fire at 
Cannes, just after his landing from Elba. 

There still remained at Paris, in those days, one main 
connecting link between the second empire and the first, 
and this was the most contemptible of all the Bona- 
partes,— the younger brother of the great Napoleon,— 
Jerome, ex-king of Westphalia. I saw him, from time to 
time, and was much struck by his resemblance to the first 
emperor. Though taller, he still had something of that 



36 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION-II 

Roman imperial look, so remarkable in the founder of the 
family; but in Jerome, it always recalled to me such 
Caesars as Tiberius and Vitellius. 

It was well known that the ex-king, as well as his son, 
Prince Jerome Napoleon, were thorns in the side of Na- 
poleon III, and many stories illustrating this were cur- 
rent during my stay in Paris, the best, perhaps, being an 
answer made by Napoleon III to another representative 
of his family. The question having been asked, "What 
is the difference between an accident and a misfortune 
(un accident et un malheur)V the emperor answered, 
"If my cousin, Prince Napoleon, should fall into the 
Seine, it would be an accident; if anybody were to pull him 
out, it would be a misfortune." Although this cousin had 
some oratorical ability, both he and his father were most 
thoroughly despised. The son bore the nickname of 
"Plon-Plon," probably with some reference to his repu- 
tation for cowardice; the father had won the appellation 
of "Le Roi Loustic," and, indeed, had the credit of in- 
troducing into the French language the word "loustic," 
derived from the fact that, during his short reign at Cassel, 
King Jerome was wont, after the nightly orgies at his 
j3alace, to dismiss his courtiers with the words : ' ' Morgen 
wieder loustic, Messieurs. ' ' 

During the summer of 1854 I employed my vacation in 
long walks and drives with a college classmate through 
northern, western, and central France, including Picardy, 
Normandy, Brittany, and Touraine, visiting the spots 
of most historical and architectural interest. There were, 
at that time, few railways in those regions, so we put on 
blouses and took to the road, sending our light baggage 
ahead of us, and carrying only knapsacks. In every way 
it proved a most valuable experience. Pleasantly come 
back to me my walks and talks with the peasantry, and 
vividly dwell in my memory the cathedrals of Beauvais, 
Amiens, Rouen, Bayeux, Coutances, Le Mans, Tours, 
Chartres, and Orleans, the fortress of Mont St. Michel, 
the Chateaux of Chenonceaux, Chambord, Nantes, Am- 



YALE AND EUROPE -1850-1857 37 

boise, and Angers, the tombs of the Angevine kings at 
Fontevrault, and the stone cottage of Louis XI at Clery. 
Visiting the grave of Chateaubriand at St. Malo, we met 
a little old gentleman, bent with age, but very brisk and 
chatty. He was standing with a party of friends on one 
side of the tomb, while we stood on the other. Presently, 
one of the gentlemen in his company came over and asked 
our names, saying that his aged companion was a great 
admirer of Chateaubriand, and was anxious to know some- 
thing of his fellow pilgrims. To this I made answer, when 
my interlocutor informed me that the old gentleman was 
the Prince de Rohan-Soubise. Shortly afterward the old 
gentleman came round to us and began conversation, and 
on my making answer in a way which showed that I knew 
his title, he turned rather sharply on me and said, ''How 
do you know that?" To this I made answer that even 
in America we had heard the verse : 



" Roi, je ne puis, 
Prince ne daigne 
Rohan je suis." 



At this he seemed greatly pleased, grasped my hand, and 
launched at once into extended conversation. His great 
anxiety was to know who was to be the future king of 
our Republic, and he asked especially whether Washington 
had left any direct descendants. On my answering in the 
negative, he insisted that we would have to find some de- 
scendant in the collateral line, "for," said he, "you can't 
escape it; no nation can get along for any considerable 
time without a monarch." 

Returning to Paris I resumed my studies, and, at the 
request of Mr. Randall, the biographer of Jefferson, 
made some search in the French archives for correspon- 
dence between Jefferson and Robespierre, — search made 
rather to put an end to calumny than for any other 
purpose. 

At the close of this stay in France, by the kindness of 



38 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION-II 

the American minister to Russia, Governor Seymour, of 
Connecticut, I was invited to St. Petersburg, as an attache 
of the American Legation, and resided for over six months 
in his household. It was a most interesting period. The 
Crimean War was going on, and the death of the Emperor 
Nicholas, during my stay, enabled me to see how a great 
change in autocratic administration is accomplished. An 
important part of my duty was to accompany the minister 
as an interpreter, not only at court, but in his interviews 
with Nesselrode, Gortschakoff, and others then in power. 
This gave me some chance also to make my historical 
studies more real by close observation of a certain sort 
of men who have had the making of far too much history ; 
but books interested me none the less. An epoch in my 
development, intellectual and moral, was made at this time 
by my reading large parts of Gibbon, and especially by 
a very careful study of Guizot's "History of Civilization 
in France, ' ' which greatly deepened and strengthened the 
impression made by his "History of Civilization in Eu- 
rope, ' ' as read under President Woolsey at Yale. During 
those seven months in St. Petersburg and Moscow, I read 
much in modern European history, paying considerable at- 
tention to the political development and condition of Rus- 
sia, and, for the first time, learned the pleasures of in- 
vestigating the history of our own country. Governor 
Seymour was especially devoted to the ideas of Thomas 
Jefferson, and late at night, as we sat before the fire, after 
returning from festivities or official interviews, we fre- 
quently discussed the democratic system, as advocated by 
Jefferson, and the autocratic system, as we saw it in the 
capital of the Czar. The result was that my beginning 
of real study in American history was made by a very 
close examination of the life and writings of Thomas Jef- 
ferson, including his letters, messages, and other papers, 
and of the diplomatic history revealed in the volumes of 
correspondence preserved in the Legation. The general 
result was to strengthen and deepen my democratic creed, 
and a special result was the preparation of an article on 



YALE AND EUROPE-1850-1857 39 

"Jefferson and Slavery," which, having been at a later 
period refused by the "New Englander," at New Haven, 
on account of its too pronounced sympathy with democ- 
racy against federalism, was published by the "Atlantic 
Monthly, ' ' and led to some acquaintances of value to me 
afterward. 

Eeturning from St. Petersburg, I was matriculated at 
the University of Berlin, and entered the family of a 
very scholarly gymnasial professor, where nothing but 
German was spoken. During this stay at the Prussian 
capital, in the years 1855 and 1856, I heard the lectures of 
Lepsius, on Egyptology; August Boeckh, on the History 
of Greece ; Friedrich von Raumer, on the History of Italy ; 
Hirsch, on Modern History in general; and Carl Ritter, 
on Physical Geography. The lectures of Ranke, the most 
eminent of German historians, I could not follow. He had 
a habit of becoming so absorbed in his subject, as to slide 
down in his chair, hold his finger up toward the ceiling, 
and then, with his eye fastened on the tip of it, to go 
mumbling through a kind of rhapsody, which most of my 
German fellow-students confessed they could not under- 
stand. It was a comical sight: half a dozen students 
crowding around his desk, listening as priests might listen 
to the sibyl on her tripod, the other students being 
scattered through the room, in various stages of discour- 
agement. My studies at this period were mainly in the 
direction of history, though with considerable reading on 
art and literature. Valuable and interesting to me at this 
time were the representations of the best dramas of Goethe, 
Schiller, Lessing, and Gutzkow, at the Berlin theaters. 
Then, too, really began my education in Shakspere, and 
the representations of his plays (in Schlegel and Tieck's 
version) were, on the whole, the most satisfactory I have 
ever known. I thus heard plays of Shakspere which, in 
English-speaking countries, are never presented, and, 
even into those better known, wonderful light was at times 
thrown from this new point of view. 
As to music, the Berlin Opera was then at the height 



40 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION -II 

of its reputation, the leading singer being the famous Jo- 
anna Wagner. But rny greatest satisfaction was derived 
from the "Liebig Classical Concerts." These were, un- 
doubtedly, the best instrumental music then given in 
Europe, and a small party of us were very assiduous in 
our attendance. Three afternoons a week we were, as a 
rule, gathered about our table in the garden where the 
concerts were given, and, in the midst of us, Alexander 
Thayer, the biographer of Beethoven, who discussed the 
music with us during its intervals. Beethoven was, for 
him, the one personage in human history, and Beethoven's 
music the only worthy object of human concern. He knew 
every composition, every note, every variant, and had 
wrestled for years with their profound meanings. Many 
of his explanations were fantastic, but some were sug- 
gestive and all were interesting. Even more inspiring 
was another new-found friend, Henry Simmons Frieze ; a 
thorough musician, and a most lovely character. He 
broached no theories, uttered no comments, but sat rapt 
by the melody and harmony— transfigured— "his face as 
it had been the face of an angel." In these Liebig con- 
certs we then heard, for the first time, the music of a 
new composer,— one Wagner,— and agreed that while it 
was all very strange, there was really something in the 
overture to ' ' Tannhauser. " 

At the close of this stay in Berlin, I went with a party 
of fellow-students through Austria to Italy. The whole 
journey was a delight, and the passage by steamer from 
Trieste to Venice was made noteworthy by a new ac- 
quaintance,— James Russell Lowell. As he had already 
written the "Vision of Sir Launfal," the "Fable for Crit- 
ics," and the "Biglow Papers," I stood in great awe of 
him; but this feeling rapidly disappeared in his genial 
presence. He was a student like the rest of us,— for 
he had been passing the winter at Dresden, working 
in German literature, as a preparation for succeeding 
Longfellow in the professorship at Harvard. He 
came to our rooms, and there linger delightfully in 



YALE AND EUROPE- 1850-1857 41 

my memory his humorous accounts of Italian life as he 
had known it. 

During the whole of the journey, it was my exceeding 
good fortune to be thrown into very close relations with 
two of our party, both of whom became eminent Latin 
professors, and one of whom,— already referred to,— 
Frieze, from his lecture-room in the University of Michi- 
gan, afterward did more than any other man within my 
knowledge to make classical scholarship a means of cul- 
ture throughout our Western States. My excursions in 
Rome, under that guidance, I have always looked upon 
as among the fortunate things of life. The day was given 
to exploration, the evening to discussion, not merely of 
archaeological theories, but of the weightier matters per- 
taining to the history of Roman civilization and its in- 
fluence. Dear Frieze and Fishburne ! How vividly come 
back the days in the tower of the Croce di Malta, at Genoa, 
in our sky-parlor of the Piazza di Spagna at Rome, and 
in the old "Capuchin Hotel" at Amalfi, when we held high 
debate on the analogies between the Roman Empire and 
the British, and upon various kindred subjects. 

An episode, of much importance to me at this time, 
was my meeting our American minister at Naples, Robert 
Dale Owen. His talks on the political state of Italy, and 
his pictures of the monstrous despotism of "King 
Bomba" took strong hold upon me. Not even the pages 
of Colletta or of Settembrini have done so much to arouse 
in me a sense of the moral value of political history. 

Then, too, I made the first of my many excursions 
through the historic towns of Italy. My reading of Sis- 
mondi's "Italian Republics" had deeply interested me in 
their history, and had peopled them again with their old 
turbulent population. I seemed to see going on before my 
eyes the old struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellines, 
and between the demagogues and the city tyrants. In the 
midst of such scenes my passion for historical reading 
was strengthened, and the whole subject took on new and 
deeper meanings. 



42 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION -II 

On my way northward, excursions among the cities 
of southern France, especially Nismes, Aries, and Orange, 
gave me a far better conception of Roman imperial power 
than could be obtained in Italy alone, and Avignon, 
Bourges, and Toulouse deepened my conceptions of me- 
diaeval history. 

Having returned to America in the summer of 1856 
and met my class, assembled to take the master's degree 
in course at Yale, I was urged by my old Yale friends, 
especially by Porter and Gilman, to remain in New Haven. 
They virtually pledged me a position in the school of art 
about to be established; but my belief was in the value 
of historical studies, and I accepted an election to a pro- 
fessorship of history at the University of Michigan. The 
work there was a joy to me from first to last, and my re- 
lations with my students of that period, before I had 
become distracted from them by the cares of an execu- 
tive position, were among the most delightful of my life. 
Then, perhaps, began the most real part of my education. 
The historical works of Buckle, Lecky, and Draj^er, which 
were then appearing, gave me a new and fruitful impulse ; 
but most stimulating of all was the atmosphere coming 
from the great thought of Darwin and Herbert Spencer,— 
an atmosphere in which history became less and less a 
matter of annals, and more and more a record of the 
unfolding of humanity. Then, too, was borne in upon 
me the meaning of the proverb docendo disces. I found 
energetic Western men in my classes ready to discuss 
historical questions, and discovered that in order to keep 
up my part of the discussions, as well as to fit myself for 
my class-room duties, I must work as I had never worked 
before. The education I then received from my classes at 
the University of Michigan was. perhaps the most effective 
of all. 



part n 

POLITICAL LIFE 



CHAPTER III 

FROM JACKSON TO FILLMORE— 1832-1851 

MY arrival in this world took- place at one of the 
stormy periods of American political history. It 
was on the third of the three election days which carried 
Andrew Jackson a second time into the Presidency. 
Since that period, the election, with its paralysis of busi- 
ness, ghastly campaign lying, and monstrous vilification 
of candidates, has been concentrated into one day ; but at 
that time all the evil passions of a presidential election 
were allowed to ferment and gather vitriolic strength 
during three days. 

I was born into a politically divided family. My grand- 
father, on my mother's side, whose name I was destined 
to bear, was an ardent Democrat ; had, as such, represented 
his district in the State legislature, and other public bod- 
ies; took his political creed from Thomas Jefferson, and 
adored Andrew Jackson. My father, on the other hand, 
was in all his antecedents and his personal convictions, a 
devoted Whig, taking his creed from Alexander Hamilton, 
and worshiping Henry Clay. 

This opposition between my father and grandfather did 
not degenerate into personal bitterness; but it was very 
earnest, and, in later years, my mother told me that when 
Hayne, of South Carolina, made his famous speech, 
charging the North with ill-treatment of the South, my 
grandfather sent a copy of it to my father, as unanswer- 
able; but that, shortly afterward, my father sent to my 
grandfather the speech of Daniel Webster, in reply, and 

45 



46 POLITICAL LIFE-I 

that, when this was read, the family allowed that the lat- 
ter had the better of the argument. I cannot help thinking 
that my grandfather must have agreed with them, tacitly, 
if not openly. He loved the Hampshire Hills of Massa- 
chusetts, from which he came. Year after year he took 
long journeys to visit them, and Webster's magnificent 
reference to the "Old Bay State" must have aroused his 
sympathy and pride. 

Fortunately, at that election, as at so many others since, 
the good sense of the nation promptly accepted the result, 
and after its short carnival of political passion, dismissed 
the whole subject ; the minority simply leaving the respon- 
sibility of public affairs to the majority, and all betaking 
themselves again to their accustomed vocations. 

I do not remember, during the first seven years of my 
life, ever hearing any mention of political questions. The 
only thing I heard during that period which brings back a 
chapter in American politics, was when, at the age of five 
years, I attended an infant school and took part in a sort 
of catechism, all the children rising and replying to the 
teacher 's questions. Among these were the following : 

Q. Who is President of the United States? 

A. Martin Van Buren. 

Q. Who is governor of the State of New York? 

A. William L. Marcy. 

This is to me somewhat puzzling, for I was four years 
old when Martin Van Buren was elected, and my father 
was his very earnest opponent, yet, though I recall easily 
various things which occurred at that age and even earlier, 
I have no remembrance of any general election before 
1840, and my only recollection of the first New York 
statesman elected to the Presidency is this mention of his 
name, in a child's catechism. 

My recollections of American politics begin, then, with 
the famous campaign of 1840, and of that they are vivid. 
Our family had, in 1839, removed to Syracuse, which, al- 
though now a city of about one hundred and twenty thou- 
sand inhabitants, was then a village of fewer than six 



FROM JACKSON TO FILLMORE- 1832 -1851 47 

thousand; but, as the central town of the State, it was 
already a noted gathering-place for political conventions 
and meetings. The great Whig mass-meeting held there, 
in 1840, was long famous as the culmination of the cam- 
paign between General Harrison and Martin Van Buren. 
As a President, Mr. Van Buren had fallen on evil times. 
It was a period of political finance; of demagogical 
methods in public business; and the result was "hard 
times," with an intense desire throughout the nation for a 
change. This desire was represented especially by the 
Whig party. General Harrison had been taken up as its 
candidate, not merely because he had proved his worth 
as governor of the Northwestern Territory, and as a 
senator in Congress, but especially as the hero of sundry 
fights with the Indians, and, above all, of the plucky little 
battle at Tippecanoe. The most popular campaign song, 
which I soon learned to sing lustily, was ' l Tippecanoe and 
Tyler, Too," and sundry lines of it expressed, not only 
my own deepest political convictions and aspirations, but 
also those cherished by myriads of children of far larger 
growth. They ran as follows: 

" Oh, have you heard the great comniotion-motion-motion 
Rolling the country through ? 
It is the ball a-rolling on 
For Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, 
For Tippecanoe and Tyler, too ; 
And with them we '11 beat little Van ; 
Van, Van is a used up man ; 
And with them we '11 beat little Van." 

The campaign was an apotheosis of tom-foolery. Gen- 
eral Harrison had lived the life, mainly, of a Western 
farmer, and for a time, doubtless, exercised amid his rude 
surroundings the primitive hospitality natural to sturdy 
Western pioneers. On these facts the changes were rung. 
In every town and village a log cabin was erected where 
the Whigs held their meetings ; and the bringing of logs, 
with singing and shouting, to build it, was a great event ; 



48 POLITICAL LIFE -I 

its front door must have a wooden latch on the inside ; 
but the latch-string must run through the door; for the 
claim which the friends of General Harrison especially 
insisted upon was that he not only lived in a log cabin, but 
that his latch-string was always out, in token that all his 
fellow-citizens were welcome at his fireside. 

Another element in the campaign was hard cider. 
Every log cabin must have its barrel of this acrid fluid, 
as the antithesis of the alleged beverage of President Van 
Buren at the White House. He, it was asserted, drank 
champagne, and on this point I remember that a verse 
was sung at log-cabin meetings which, after describing, 
in a prophetic way the arrival of the ' ' Farmer of North 
Bend" at the White House, ran as follows : 

" They were all very merry, and drinking champagne 
When the Farmer, impatient, knocked louder again ; 
Oh, Oh, said Prince John, I very much fear 
We must quit this place the very next year." 

"Prince John" was President Van Buren 's brilliant 
son ; famous for his wit and eloquence, who, in after years, 
rose to be attorney-general of the State of New York, and 
who might have risen to far higher positions had his prin- 
ciples equaled his talents. 

Another feature at the log cabin, and in all political 
processions, was at least one raccoon; and if not a live 
raccoon in a cage, at least a raccoon skin nailed upon the 
outside of the cabin. This gave local color, but hence 
came sundry jibes from the Democrats, for they were 
wont to refer to the Whigs as "coons," and to their log 
cabins as "coon pens." Against all these elements of 
success, added to promises of better times, the Democratic 
party could make little headway. Martin Van Buren, 
though an admirable public servant in many ways, was 
discredited. M. de Bacourt, the French Minister at Wash- 
ington, during his administration, was, it is true, very 
fond of him, and this cynical scion of French nobility 



FROM JACKSON TO FILLMORE-1832-1851 49 

wrote in a private letter, which has been published in these 
latter days, "M. Van Buren is the most perfect imitation 
of a gentleman I ever saw. ' ' But this commendation had 
not then come to light, and the main reliance of the Demo- 
crats in capturing the popular good-will was their can- 
didate for the Vice-Presidency, Colonel Richard M. John- 
son, of Kentucky. He, too, had fought in the Indian wars, 
and bravely. Therefore it was that one of the Whig songs 
which especially rejoiced me, ran: 

" They shout and sing, Oh humpsy dumpsy, 
Colonel Johnson killed Tecumseh." 

Among the features of that period which excited my 
imagination were the enormous mass meetings, with pro- 
cessions, coming in from all points of the compass, miles 
in length, and bearing every patriotic device and political 
emblem. Here the Whigs had infinitely the advantage. 
Their campaign was positive and aggressive. On plat- 
form-wagons were men working at every trade which ex- 
pected to be benefited by Whig success ; log cabins of all 
sorts and sizes, hard-cider barrels, coon pens, great can- 
vas balls, which were kept "a-rolling on," canoes, such 
as General Harrison had used in crossing Western rivers, 
eagles that screamed in defiance, and cocks that crowed 
for victory. The turning ball had reference to sundry 
lines in the foremost campaign song. For the October 
election in Maine having gone Whig by a large majority, 
clearly indicating what the general result was to be in 
November, the opening lines ran as follows : 

" Oh, have you heard the news from Maine-Maine-Maine ? 
Rolling the country through ? 
It is the ball a-rolling on 
For Tippecanoe and Tyler, too." 

&c, &c, &c. 

Against all this the Democrats, with their negative and 
defensive platform, found themselves more and more at 

T A 



I— 4 



50 POLITICAL LIFE-I 

a disadvantage ; they fought with desperation, but in vain, 
and one of their most unlucky ventures to recover their 
position was an effort to undermine General Harrison's 
military reputation. For this purpose they looked about, 
and finally found one of their younger congressional rep- 
resentatives, considered to be a rising man, who, having 
gained some little experience in the Western militia, had 
received the honorary title of ' ' General, ' ' Isaac M. Crary, 
of Michigan ; him they selected to make a speech in Con- 
gress exhibiting and exploding General Harrison's mili- 
tary record. He was very reluctant to undertake it, but 
at last yielded, and, after elaborate preparation, made an 
argument loud and long, to show that General Harrison 
was a military ignoramus. The result was both comic 
and pathetic. There was then in Congress the most fa- 
mous stump-speaker of his time, and perhaps of all times, 
a man of great physical, intellectual, and moral vigor; 
powerful in argument, sympathetic in manner, of infinite 
wit and humor, and, unfortunately for General Crary, 
a Whig,— Thomas Corwin, of Ohio. Mr. Crary 's heavy, 
tedious, perfunctory arraignment of General Harrison 
being ended, Corwin rose and began an offhand speech 
on "The Military Services of General Isaac M. Crary." 
In a few minutes he had as his audience, not only the House 
of Representatives, but as many members of the Senate, 
of the Supreme Court, and visitors to the city, as could 
be crowded into the congressional chamber, and, of all 
humorous speeches ever delivered in Congress, this of 
Corwin has come down to us as the most successful. Long 
afterward, parts of it lingered in our "speakers' man- 
uals" and were declaimed in the public schools as ex- 
amples of witty oratory. Many years later, when the 
House of Representatives left the old chamber and went 
into that which it now occupies, Thurlow Weed wrote 
an interesting article on scenes he had witnessed in the old 
hall, and most vivid of all was his picture of this speech 
by Corwin. His delineations of Crary 's brilliant exploits, 
his portrayal of the valiant charges made by Crary 's 



FROM JACKSON TO FILLMORE-1832-1851 51 

troops on muster days upon the watermelon patches of 
Michigan, not only convulsed his audience, but were 
echoed throughout the nation, Whigs and Democrats 
laughing alike ; and when John Quincy Adams, in a speech 
shortly afterward, referred to the man who brought on 
this tempest of fun as "the late General Crary," there 
was a feeling that the adjective indicated a fact. It really 
was so; Crary, although a man of merit, never returned 
to Congress, but was thenceforth dropped from political 
life. More than twenty years afterward, as I was passing 
through Western Michigan, a friend pointed out to me 
his tombstone, in a little village cemetery, with comments, 
half comic, half pathetic; and I also recall a mournful 
feeling when one day, in going over the roll of my stu- 
dents at the University of Michigan, I came upon one who 
bore the baptismal name of Isaac Crary. Evidently, the 
blighted young statesman had a daughter who, in all this 
storm of ridicule and contempt, stood by him, loved him, 
and proudly named her son after him. 

Another feature in the campaign also impressed me. 
A blackguard orator, on the Whig side, one of those 
whom great audiences applaud for the moment and ever 
afterward despise,— a man named Ogle,— made a speech 
which depicted the luxury prevailing at the White House, 
and among other evidences of it, dwelt upon the "gold 
spoons" used at the President's table, denouncing their 
use with such unction that, for the time, unthinking peo- 
ple regarded Martin Van Buren as a sort of American 
Vitellius. As a matter of fact, the scanty silver-gilt table 
utensils at the White House have been shown, in these 
latter days, in some very pleasing articles written by 
General Harrison's grandson, after this grandson had 
himself retired from the Presidency, to have been, for the 
most part, bought long before;— and by order of General 
Washington. 

The only matter of political importance which, as a boy 
eight years old, I seized upon, and which dwells in my 
memory, was the creation of the "Sub-Treasury." That 



52 POLITICAL LIFE-I 

this was a wise measure seems now proven by the fact that 
through all the vicissitudes of politics, from that day to 
this, it has remained and rendered admirable service. But 
at that time it was used as a weapon against the Demo- 
cratic party, and came to be considered by feather- 
brained partizans, young and old, as the culmination of 
human wickedness. As to what the "Sub-Treasury" 
really was I had not the remotest idea; but this I knew;— 
that it was the most wicked outrage ever committed by a 
remorseless tyrant upon a long-suffering people. 

In November of 1840 General Harrison was elected. In 
the following spring he was inaugurated, and the Whigs 
being now for the first time in power, the rush for office 
was fearful. It was undoubtedly this crushing pressure 
upon the kindly old man that caused his death. What 
British soldiers, and Indian warriors, and fire, flood, and 
swamp fevers could not accomplish in over sixty years, 
was achieved by the office-seeking hordes in just one 
month. He was inaugurated on the fourth of March and 
died early in April. 

I remember, as if it were yesterday, my dear mother 
coming to my bedside, early in the morning, and saying 
to me, " President Harrison is dead." I wondered what 
was to become of us. He was the first President who had 
died during his term of service, and a great feeling of 
relief came over me when I learned that his high office 
had devolved upon the Vice-President. 

But now came a new trouble, and my youthful mind was 
soon sadly agitated. The Whig papers, especially the 
"New York Express" and "Albany Evening Journal," 
began to bring depressing accounts of the new President, 
—tidings of extensive changes in the offices throughout the 
country, and especially in the post-offices. At first the 
Whig papers published these under the heading "Ap- 
pointments by the President." But soon the heading 
changed; it became "Appointments by Judas Iscariot," 
or "Appointments by Benedict Arnold," and war was 
declared against President Tyler by the party that elected 



FROM JACKSON TO FILLMORE-1832-1851 53 

him. Certain it is that no party ever found itself in a 
worse position than did the Whigs, when their Vice-Presi- 
dent came into the Chief Magistracy ; and equally certain 
is it that this position was the richly earned punishment 
of their own folly. 

I have several times since had occasion to note the care- 
lessness of National and State conventions in nominating 
a candidate for the second place upon the ticket— whether 
Vice-President or Lieutenant-Governor. It would seem 
that the question of questions— the nomination to the 
first office— having been settled, there comes a sort of 
collapse in these great popular assemblies, and that then, 
for the second office, it is very often anybody's race and 
mainly a matter of chance. In this way alone can be ex- 
plained several nominations which have been made to 
second offices, and above all, that of John Tyler. As a 
matter of fact, he was not commended to the Whig party 
on any solid grounds. His whole political life had shown 
him an opponent of their main ideas; he was, in fact, a 
Southern doctrinaire, and frequently suffered from acute 
attacks of that very troublesome political disease, Vir- 
ginia metaphysics. As President he attempted to enforce 
his doctrines, and when Whig leaders, and above all 
Henry Clay attempted, not only to resist, but to crush him, 
he asserted his dignity at the cost of his party, and finally 
tried that which other accidental Presidents have since 
tried with no better success, namely, to build up a party 
of his own by a new distribution of offices. Never was a 
greater failure. Mr. Tyler was dropped by both parties 
and disappeared from American political life forever. 
I can now see that he was a man obedient to his convic- 
tions of duty, such as they were, and in revolt against 
attempts of Whig leaders to humiliate him ; but then, to 
my youthful mind, he appeared the very incarnation of 
evil. 

My next recollections are of the campaign of 1844. 
Again the Whig party took courage, and having, as a boy 
of twelve years, acquired more earnest ideas regarding 



54 POLITICAL LIFE-I 

the questions at issue, I helped, with other Whig boys, 
to raise ash-poles, and to hurrah lustily for Clay at public 
meetings. On the other hand, the Democratic boys hur- 
rahed as lustily around their hickory poles and, as was 
finally proved, to much better purpose. They sang dog- 
gerel which, to me, was blasphemous, and especially a song 
with the following refrain : 

" Alas poor Cooney Clay, 
Alas poor Cooney Clay, 
You never can be President, 
For so the people say." 

The ash-poles had reference to Ashland, Clay's Kentucky 
estate; and the hickory poles recalled General Jackson's 
sobriquet, ''Old Hickory." For the Democratic candi- 
date in 1844, James Knox Polk, was considered heir to 
Jackson's political ideas. The campaign of 1844 was not 
made so interesting by spectacular outbursts of tom-fool- 
ery as the campaign of 1840 had been. The sober second 
thought of the country had rather sickened people of that 
sort of thing ; still, there was quite enough of it, especially 
as shown in caricatures and songs. The poorest of the 
latter was perhaps one on the Democratic side, for as the 
Democratic candidates were Polk of Tennessee and Dallas 
of Pennsylvania, one line of the song embraced probably 
the worst pun ever made, namely— 

" Pork in the barrel, and Dollars in the pocket." 

It was at this period that the feeling against the exten- 
sion of slavery, especially as indicated in the proposed 
annexation of Texas, began to appear largely in politics, 
and though Clay at heart detested slavery and always re- 
fused to do the bidding of its supporters beyond what he 
thought absolutely necessary in preserving the Union, an 
unfortunate letter of his led great numbers of anti- 
slavery men to support a separate anti-slavery ticket, the 
candidate being James G. Birney. The result was that 
the election of Clay became impossible. Mr. Polk was 



FROM JACKSON TO FILLMORE-1832-1851 55 

elected, and under him came the admission of Texas, 
which caused the Mexican War, and gave slavery a new 
lease of life. The main result, in my own environment, 
was that my father and his friends, thenceforward for a 
considerable time, though detesting slavery, held all aboli- 
tionists and anti-slavery men in contempt,— as unpatriotic 
because they had defeated Henry Clay, and as idiotic 
because they had brought on the annexation of Texas and 
thereby the supremacy of the slave States. 

But the flame of liberty could not be smothered by 
friends or blown out by enemies; it was kept alive by 
vigorous counterblasts in the press, and especially fed by 
the lecture system, which was then at the height of its 
efficiency. Among the most powerful of lecturers was 
John Parker Hale, senator of the United States from 
New Hampshire, his subject being, ''The Last Gladiato- 
rial Combat at Rome. ' ' Taking from Gibbon the story of 
the monk Telemachus, who ended the combats in the arena 
by throwing himself into them and sacrificing his life, Hale 
suggested to his large audiences an argument that if men 
wished to get rid of slavery in our country they must be 
ready to sacrifice themselves if need be. His words sank 
deep into my mind, and I have sometimes thought that 
they may have had something to do in leading John 
Brown to make his desperate attempt on slavery at Har- 
per's Ferry. 

How blind we all were ! Henry Clay, a Kentucky slave- 
holder, would have saved us. Infinitely better than the 
violent solutions proposed to us was his large statesman- 
like plan of purchasing the slave children as they were 
born and setting them free. Without bloodshed, and at 
cost of the merest nothing as compared to the cost of the 
Civil War, he would thus have solved the problem; but 
it was not so to be. The guilt of the nation was not to be 
so cheaply atoned for. Fanatics, North and South, op- 
posed him and, as a youth, I yielded to their arguments. 

Four years later, in 1848, came a very different sort of 
election. General Zachary Taylor, who had shown ster- 



56 POLITICAL LIFE-I 

ling qualities in the Mexican War, was now the candi- 
date of the Whigs, and against him was nominated Mr. 
Cass, a general of the War of 1812, afterward governor 
of the Northwestern Territory, and senator from Michi- 
gan. As a youth of sixteen, who by that time had become 
earnestly interested in politics, I was especially struck 
by one event in this campaign. The Democrats of course 
realized that General Taylor, with the prestige gained in 
the Mexican War, was a very formidable opponent. Still, 
if they could keep their party together, they had hopes of 
beating him. But a very large element in their party 
had opposed the annexation of Texas and strongly dis- 
liked the extension of slavery;— this wing of the party 
in New York being known as the "Barn Burners," be- 
cause it was asserted that they "believed in burning the 
barn to drive the rats out. ' ' The question was what these 
radical gentlemen would do. That question was answered 
when a convention, controlled largely by the anti-slavery 
Democrats of New York and other States, met at Buffalo 
and nominated Martin Van Buren to the Presidency. 
For a time it was doubtful whether he would accept the 
nomination. On one side it was argued that he could not 
afford to do so, since he had no chance of an election, 
and would thereby forever lose his hold upon the Demo- 
cratic party; but, on the other hand, it was said that he 
was already an old man; that he realized perfectly the 
impossibility of his reelection, and that he had a bitter 
grudge against the Democratic candidate, General Cass, 
who had voted against confirming him when he was sent 
as minister to Great Britain, thus obliging him to return 
home ingloriously. He accepted the nomination. 

On the very day which brought the news of this ac- 
ceptance, General Cass arrived in Syracuse, on his way 
to his home at Detroit. I saw him welcomed by a great 
procession of Democrats, and marched under a broiling 
sun, through dusty streets, to the City Hall, where he was 
forced to listen and reply to fulsome speeches prophesying 
his election, which he and all present knew to be impos- 



FROM JACKSON TO FILLMORE- 1832-1851 57 

sible. For Mr. Van Buren's acceptance of the "free soil" 
nomination was sure to divide the Democratic vote of the 
State of New York, thus giving the State to the Whigs; 
and in those days the proverb held good, "As New York 
goes, so goes the Union." 

For years afterward there dwelt vividly in my mind 
the picture of this old, sad man marching through the 
streets, listening gloomily to the speeches, forced to ap- 
pear confident of victory, yet evidently disheartened and 
disgusted. 

Very vivid are my recollections of State conventions 
at this period. Syracuse, as the "Central City," was a 
favorite place for them, and, as they came during the 
summer vacations, boys of my age and tastes were able 
to admire the great men of the hour,— now, alas, utterly 
forgotten. We saw and heard the leaders of all parties. 
Many impressed me; but one dwells in my memory, on 
account of a story which was told of him. This was a 
very solemn, elderly gentleman who always looked very 
wise but said nothing,— William Bouck of Schoharie 
County. He had white hair and whiskers, and having 
been appointed canal commissioner of the State, had dis- 
charged his duties by driving his old white family nag 
and buggy along the towing-path the whole length of the 
canals, keeping careful watch of the contractors, and so, 
in his simple, honest way, had saved the State much money. 
The result was the nickname of the "Old White Hoss of 
Schoharie," and a reputation for simplicity and honesty 
which made him for a short time governor of the State. 

A story then told of him reveals something of his char- 
acter. Being informed that Bishop Hughes of New York 
was coming to Albany, and that it would be well to treat 
him with especial courtesy, the governor prepared him- 
self to be more than gracious, and, on the arrival of the 
bishop, greeted him most cordially with the words, ' ' How 
do you do, Bishop; I hope you are well. How did you 
leave Mrs. Hughes and your family?" To this the bishop 
answered, "Governor, I am very well, but there is no 



58 POLITICAL LIFE-I 

Mrs. Hughes; bishops in our church don't marry." 
"Good gracious," answered the governor, "you don't 
say so ; how long has that been 1 ' ' The bishop must have 
thoroughly enjoyed this. His Irish wit made him quick 
both at comprehension and repartee. During a debate 
on the school question a leading Presbyterian merchant 
of New York, Mr. Hiram Ketchum, made a very earnest 
speech against separate schools for Roman Catholics, and 
presently, turning to Bishop Hughes, said, "Sir, we re- 
spect you, sir, but, sir, we can't go your purgatory, sir." 
To this the bishop quietly replied, ' ' You might go further 
and fare worse." 

Another leading figure, but on the Whig side, was a 
State senator, commonly known as "Bray" Dickinson, 
to distinguish him from D. S. Dickinson who had been a 
senator of the United States, and a candidate for the 
Presidency. "Bray" Dickinson was a most earnest sup- 
porter of Mr. Seward; staunch, prompt, vigorous, and 
really devoted to the public good. One story regarding 
him shows his rough-and-readiness. 

During a political debate in the old Whig days, one 
of his Democratic brother senators made a long harangue 
in favor of Martin Van Buren as a candidate for the 
Presidency, and in the course of his speech referred to 
Mr. Van Buren as ' ' the Curtius of the Republic. ' ' Upon 
this Dickinson jumped up, went to some member better 
educated in the classics than himself, and said, "Who in 
thunder is this Curtis that this man is talking about?" "It 
is n't Curtis, it 's Curtius," was the reply. "Well, now," 
said Dickinson, "what did Curtius do?" "Oh," said his 
informant, "he threw himself into an abyss to save 
the Roman Republic." Upon this Dickinson returned to 
his seat, and as soon as the Democratic speaker had fin- 
ished, arose and said: "Mr. President, I deny the justice 
of the gentleman's reference to Curtius and Martin Van 
Buren. What did Curtius do? He threw himself, sir, 
into an abyss to save his country. What, sir, did Martin 
Van Buren do? He threw his country into an abyss to 
save himself." 



FROM JACKSON TO FILLMORE-1832-1851 59 

Rarely, if ever, has any scholar used a bit of classical 
knowledge to better purpose. 

Another leading figure, at a later period, was a Demo- 
crat, Fernando Wood, mayor of New York, a brilliant 
desperado ; and on one occasion I saw the henchmen whom 
he had brought with him take possession of a State con- 
vention and deliberately knock its president, one of the 
most respected men in the State, off the platform. It was 
an unfortunate performance for Mayor Wood, since the 
disgust and reaction thereby aroused led all factions of 
the Democratic party to unite against him. 

Other leading men were such as Charles 'Conor and 
John Van Buren; the former learned and generous, but 
impracticable; the latter brilliant beyond belief, but not 
considered as representing any permanent ideas or prin- 
ciples. 

During the campaign of 1848, as a youth of sixteen, 
I took the liberty of breaking from the paternal party; 
my father voting for General Taylor, I hurrahing for 
Martin Van Buren. I remember well how one day my 
father earnestly remonstrated against this. He said, ' ' My 
dear boy, you cheer Martin Van Buren 's name because 
you believe that if he is elected he will do something 
against slavery: in the first place, he cannot be elected; 
and in the second place, if you knew him as we older 
people do, you would not believe in his attachment to any 
good cause whatever." 

The result of the campaign was that General Taylor 
was elected, and I recall the feeling of awe and hope with 
which I gazed upon his war-worn face, for the first and 
last time, as he stopped to receive the congratulations of 
the citizens of Syracuse;— hope, alas, soon brought to 
naught, for he, too, soon succumbed to the pressure of 
official care, and Millard Fillmore of New York, the Vice- 
President, reigned in his stead. 

I remember Mr. Fillmore well. He was a tall, large, 
fine-looking man, with a face intelligent and kindly, and 
he was noted both as an excellent public servant and an 
effective public speaker. He had been comptroller of 



60 POLITICAL LIFE -I 

the State of New York,— then the most important of State 
offices, had been defeated as Whig candidate for governor, 
and had been a representative in Congress. He was the 
second of the accidental Presidents, and soon felt it his 
duty to array himself on the side of those who, by com- 
promise with the South on the slavery question, sought 
to maintain and strengthen the Federal Union. Under 
him came the compromise measures on which our great 
statesmen of the middle period of the nineteenth century, 
Clay, Webster, Calhoun, and Benton, made their last 
speeches. Mr. Fillmore was undoubtedly led mainly by 
patriotic motives, in promoting the series of measures 
which were expected to end all trouble between the North 
and South, but which, unfortunately, embraced the Fu- 
gitive Slave Law ; yet this, as I then thought, rendered him 
accursed. I remember feeling an abhorrence for his very 
name, and this feeling was increased when there took 
place, in the city of Syracuse, the famous ' ' Jerry Rescue. ' ' 



CHAPTER IV 

EARLY MANHOOD— 1851-1857 

ON the first day of October, 1851, there was shuffling 
about the streets of Syracuse, in the quiet pursuit 
of his simple avocations, a colored person, as nearly "of 
no account" as any ever seen. So far as was known 
he had no surname, and, indeed, no Christian name, save 
the fragment and travesty,— "Jerry." 

Yet before that day was done he was famous ; his name, 
such as it was, resounded through the land; and he had 
become, in all seriousness, a weighty personage in Ameri- 
can history. 

Under the law recently passed, he was arrested, openly 
and in broad daylight, as a fugitive slave, and was car- 
ried before the United States commissioner, Mr, Joseph 
Sabine, a most kindly public officer, who in this matter 
was sadly embarrassed by the antagonism between his 
sworn duty and his personal convictions. 

Thereby, as was supposed, were fulfilled the Law and the 
Prophets— the Law being the fugitive slave law recently 
enacted, and the Prophets being no less than Henry Clay 
and Daniel Webster. 

For, as if to prepare the little city to sacrifice its cher- 
ished beliefs, Mr. Clay had some time before made a 
speech from the piazza of the Syracuse House, urging 
upon his fellow-citizens the compromises of the Consti- 
tution; and some months later Mr. Webster appeared, 
spoke from a balcony near the City Hall, and to the same 
purpose; but more so. The latter statesman was pro- 
phetic, not only in the hortatory, but in the predictive 

61 



62 POLITICAL LIFE-II 

sense; for he declared not only that the Fugitive Slave 
Law must be enforced, but that it ivould be enforced, and 
he added, in substance: "it will be enforced throughout 
the North in spite of all opposition— even in this city— 
even in the midst of your abolition conventions." This 
piece of prophecy was accompanied by a gesture which 
seemed to mean much; for the great man's hand was 
waved toward the City Hall just across the square— the 
classic seat and center of abolition conventions. 

How true is the warning, "Don't prophesy unless you 
know ! " The arrest of Jerry took place within six months 
after Mr. Webster's speech, and indeed while an aboli- 
tion convention was in session at that same City Hall; 
but when the news came the convention immediately dis- 
solved, the fire-bells began to ring, a crowd moved upon 
the commissioner's office, surged into it, and swept Jerry 
out of the hands of the officers. The authorities having 
rallied, re-arrested the fugitive, and put him in confine- 
ment and in irons. But in the evening the assailants re- 
turned to the assault, carried the jail by storm, rescued 
Jerry for good, and spirited him off safe and sound to 
Canada, thus bringing to nought the fugitive slave law, 
as well as the exhortations of Mr. Clay and the predic- 
tions of Mr. Webster. 

This rescue produced great excitement throughout the 
nation. Various persons were arrested for taking part 
in it, and their trials were adjourned from place to place, 
to the great hardship of all concerned. During a college 
vacation I was present at one of these trials at Canan- 
daigua, the United States judge, before whom it was held, 
being the Hon. N. K. Hall, who had been Mr. Fillmore's 
law partner in Buffalo. The evening before the trial an 
anti-slavery meeting was held, which I attended. It was 
opened with prayer by a bishop of the African Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church, Loguen, and of all prayers I have 
ever heard, this dwells in my mind as perhaps the most 
impressive. The colored minister's petitions for his race, 
bond and free, for Jerry and for those who had sought 



EARLY MANHOOD -1851-1857 63 

to rescue him, for the souls of the kidnappers, and for 
the country which was to his people a land of bondage, 
were most pathetic. Then arose Gerrit Smith. Of all 
Tribunes of the People I have ever known he dwells in 
my memory as possessing the greatest variety of gifts. 
He had the prestige given by great wealth, by lavish gen- 
erosity, by transparent honesty, by earnestness of pur- 
pose, by advocacy of every good cause, by a superb pres- 
ence, and by natural eloquence of a very high order. He 
was very tall and large, with a noble head, an earnest, yet 
kindly face, and of all human voices I have ever heard 
his was the most remarkable for its richness, depth, and 
strength. I remember seeing and hearing him once at 
a Republican State Convention in the City Hall at Syra- 
cuse, when, having come in for a few moments as a spec- 
tator, he was recognized by the crowd and greeted 
with overwhelming calls for a speech. He was standing 
at the entrance door, towering above all about him, and 
there was a general cry for him to come forward to 
the platform. He declined to come forward; but finally 
observed to those near him, in his quiet, natural way, 
with the utmost simplicity, "Oh, I shall be heard." At 
this a shout went up from the entire audience ; for every 
human being in that great hall had heard these words 
perfectly, though uttered in his usual conversational 
voice. 

I also remember once entering the old Delavan House 
at Albany, with a college friend of mine, afterward 
Bishop of Maine, and seeing, at the other end of a long 
hall, Gerrit Smith in quiet conversation. In a moment 
we heard his voice, and my friend was greatly im- 
pressed by it, declaring he had never imagined such 
an utterance possible. It was indeed amazing; it was 
like the deep, clear, rich tone from the pedal bass 
of a cathedral organ. During his career in Congress, 
it was noted that he was the only speaker within remem- 
brance who without effort made himself heard in every 
part of the old chamber of the House of Representatives, 



64 POLITICAL LIFE- II 

which was acoustically one of the worst halls ever de- 
vised. And it was not a case of voice and nothing else; 
his strength of argument, his gift of fit expression, and 
his wealth of illustration were no less extraordinary. 

On this occasion at Canandaigua he rose to speak, and 
every word went to the hearts of his audience. "Why," 
he began, "do they conduct these harassing proceedings 
against these men? If any one is guilty, I am guilty. 
With Samuel J. May I proposed the Jerry Rescue. We 
are responsible for it; why do they not prosecute us?" 
And these words were followed by a train of cogent rea- 
soning and stirring appeal. 

The Jerry Rescue trials only made matters worse. 
Their injustice disgusted the North, and their futility an- 
gered the South. They revealed one fact which especially 
vexed the Southern wing of the Democratic party, and 
this was, that their Northern allies could not be depended 
upon to execute the new compromise. In this Syracuse 
rescue one of the most determined leaders was a rough 
burly butcher, who had been all his life one of the loudest 
of pro-slavery Democrats, and who, until he saw Jerry 
dragged in manacles through the streets, had been most 
violent in his support of the fugitive slave law. The 
trials also stimulated the anti-slavery leaders and orators 
to new vigor. Garrison, Phillips, Gerrit Smith, Sumner, 
and Seward aroused the anti-slavery forces as never be- 
fore, and the ' ' Biglow Papers ' ' of James Russell Lowell, 
which made Northern pro-slavery men ridiculous, were 
read with more zest than ever. 

But the abolition forces had the defects of their quali- 
ties, and their main difficulty really arose from the stim- 
ulus given to a thin fanaticism. There followed, in 
the train of the nobler thinkers and orators, the "Fool 
Reformers, "—sundry long-haired men and short-haired 
women, who thought it their duty to stir good Christian 
people with blasphemy, to deluge the founders of the 
Republic with blackguardism, and to invent ever more 
and more ingenious ways for driving every sober-minded 



EARLY MANHOOD -1851-1857 65 

man and woman out of the anti-slavery fold. More than 
once in those days I hung my head in disgust as I listened 
to these people, and wondered, for the moment, whether, 
after all, even the supremacy of slaveholders might not 
be more tolerable than the new heavens and the new earth, 
in which should dwell such bedraggled, screaming, de- 
nunciatory creatures. 

At the next national election the Whigs nominated 
General Scott, a man of extraordinary merit and of gran- 
diose appearance ; but of both these qualities he was him- 
self unfortunately too well aware ; as a result the Demo- 
crats gave him the name of ' ' Old Fuss and Feathers, ' ' and 
a few unfortunate speeches, in one of which he expressed 
his joy at hearing that "sweet Irish brogue," brought 
the laugh of the campaign upon him. 

On the other hand the Democrats nominated Franklin 
Pierce; a man greatly inferior to General Scott in mili- 
tary matters, but who had served well in the State politics 
of New Hampshire and in Congress, was widely beloved, 
of especially attractive manners, and of high personal 
character. 

He also had been in the Mexican War, but though he 
had risen to be brigadier-general, his military record 
amounted to very little. There was in him, no doubt, 
some alloy of personal with public motives, but it would 
be unjust to say that selfishness was the only source of 
his political ideas. He was greatly impressed by the 
necessity of yielding to the South in order to save the 
Union, and had shown this by his utterances and votes in 
Congress: the South, therefore, accepted him against 
General Scott, who was supposed to have moderate anti- 
slavery views. 

General Pierce was elected; the policy of his adminis- 
tration became more and more deeply pro-slavery; and 
now appeared upon the scene Stephen Arnold Douglas— 
senator from Illinois, a man of remarkable ability,— a 
brilliant thinker and most effective speaker, with an ex- 
traordinary power of swaying men. I heard him at vari- 

I.-5 



66 POLITICAL LIFE-II 

ous times ; and even after he had committed what seemed 
to me the unpardonable sin, it was hard to resist his elo- 
quence. He it was who, doubtless from a mixture of mo- 
tives, personal and public, had proposed the abolition of 
the Missouri Compromise, which since the year 1820 had 
been the bulwark of the new territories against the en- 
croachments of slavery. The whole anti-slavery senti- 
ment of the North was thereby intensified, and as the 
establishment of north polarity at one end of the magnet 
excites south polarity at the other, so Southern feeling 
in favor of slavery was thereby increased. Up to a re- 
cent period Southern leaders had, as a rule, deprecated 
slavery, and hoped for its abolition ; now they as generally 
advocated it as good in itself ;— the main foundation of 
civil liberty; the normal condition of the working classes 
of every nation; and some of them urged the revival of 
the African slave-trade. The struggle became more and 
more bitter. I was during that time at Yale, and the gen- 
eral sentiment of that university in those days favored 
almost any concession to save the Union. The venerable 
Silliman, and a great majority of the older professors 
spoke at public meetings in favor of the pro-slavery com- 
promise measures which they fondly hoped would settle 
the difficulty between North and South and reestablish 
the Union on firm foundations. The new compromise was 
indeed a bitter dose for them, since it contained the fu- 
gitive slave law in its most drastic form; and every one 
of them, with the exception of a few theological doctrin- 
aires who found slavery in the Bible, abhorred the whole 
slave system. The Yale faculty, as a rule, took ground 
against anti-slavery effort, and, among other ways of 
propagating what they considered right opinions, there 
was freely distributed among the students a sermon by 
the Rev. Dr. Boardman of Philadelphia, which went to 
extremes in advocating compromise with slavery and the 
slave power. 

The great body of the students, also, from North and 
South, took the same side. It is a suggestive fact that 



EARLY MANHOOD-1S51-1857 67 

whereas European students are generally inclined to radi- 
calism, American students have been, since the war of 
the Revolution, eminently conservative. 

To this pro-slavery tendency at Yale, in hope of saving 
the Union, there were two remarkable exceptions, one 
being the beloved and respected president of the univer- 
sity, Dr. Theodore Dwight Woolsey, and the other his 
classmate and friend, the Rev. Dr. Leonard Bacon, pastor 
of the great Center Church of New Haven, and frequently 
spoken of as the ''Congregational Pope of New Eng- 
land." They were indeed a remarkable pair; Woolsey, 
quiet and scholarly, at times irascible, but always kind 
and just; Bacon a rugged, leonine sort of man who, when 
he shook his mane in the pulpit and addressed the New 
England conscience, was heard throughout the nation. 
These two, especially, braved public sentiment, as well 
as the opinion of their colleagues, and were supposed, 
at the time, to endanger the interests of Yale by standing 
against the fugitive slave law and other concessions to 
slavery and its extension. As a result Yale fell into dis- 
repute in the South, which had, up to that time, sent large 
bodies of students to it, and I remember that a classmate 
of mine, a tall, harum-scarum, big-hearted, sandy-haired 
Georgian known as "Jim" Hamilton, left Yale in disgust, 
returned to his native heath, and was there welcomed with 
great jubilation. A poem was sent me, written by some 
ardent admirer of his, beginning with the words : 

" God bless thee, noble Hamilton," &c. 

On the other hand I was one of the small minority of 
students who remained uncompromisingly anti-slavery, 
and whenever I returned from Syracuse, my classmates 
and friends used to greet me in a jolly way by asking me 
"How are you, Gerrit; how did you leave the Rev. An- 
toinette Brown and brother Fred Douglas?" In conse- 
quence I came very near being, in a small way, a martyr 
to my principles. Having had some success in winning 



68 POLITICAL LIFE -II 

essay prizes during my sophomore and junior years, my 
name was naturally mentioned in connection with the elec- 
tion of editors for the ' ' Yale Literary Magazine. ' ' At this 
a very considerable body of Southern students and their 
Northern adherents declared against me. I neither said 
nor did anything in the premises, but two of my most 
conservative friends wrought valiantly in my behalf. 
One was my dear old chum, Davies, the present Bishop 
of Michigan, at the very antipodes from myself on every 
possible question ; and the other my life-long friend, Ran- 
dall Lee Gibson of Kentucky, himself a large slaveholder, 
afterward a general in the Confederate service, and 
finally, at his lamented death a few years since, United 
States senator from Louisiana. Both these friends cham- 
pioned my cause, with the result that they saved me by a 
small majority. 

As editor of the "Yale Literary Magazine," through 
my senior year, I could publish nothing in behalf of my 
cherished anti-slavery ideas, since a decided majority 
of my fellow-editors would have certainly refused ad- 
mission to any obnoxious article, and I therefore confined 
myself, in my editorial capacity, to literary and abstract 
matters; but with my college exercises it was different. 
Professor Lamed, who was charged with the criticism 
of our essays and speeches, though a very quiet man, was 
at heart deeply anti-slavery, and therefore it was that in 
sundry class-room essays, as well as in speeches at the 
junior exhibition and at commencement, I was able to 
pour forth my ideas against what was stigmatized as the 
"sum of human villainies." 

I was not free from temptation to an opposite course. 
My experience at the college election had more than once 
suggested to my mind the idea that possibly I might be 
wrong, after all ; that perhaps the voice of the people was 
really the voice of God ; that if one wishes to accomplish 
anything he must work in harmony with the popular will ; 
and that perhaps the best way would be to conform to 
the general opinion. To do so seemed, certainly, the only 



EARLY MANHOOD-1851-1857 69 

road to preferment of any kind. Such were the tempta- 
tions which, in those days, beset every young man who 
dreamed of accomplishing something in life, and they 
beset me in my turn; but there came a day when I dealt 
with them decisively. I had come up across New Haven 
Green thinking them over, and perhaps paltering rather 
contemptibly with my conscience ; but arriving at the door 
of North College, I stopped a moment, ran through the 
whole subject in an instant, and then and there, on the 
stairway leading to my room, silently vowed that, come 
what might, I would never be an apologist for slavery 
or for its extension, and that what little I could do against 
both should be done. 

I may add that my conscience was somewhat aided by 
a piece of casuistry from the most brilliant scholar in 
the Yale faculty of that time, Professor James Hadley. 
I had been brought up with a strong conviction of the ne- 
cessity of obedience to law as the first requirement in 
any State, and especially in a Republic ; but here was the 
fugitive slave law. What was our duty regarding it? 
This question having come up in one of our division- 
room debates, Professor Hadley, presiding, gave a de- 
cision to the following effect: "On the statute books of all 
countries are many laws, obsolete and obsolescent ; to dis- 
obey an obsolete law is frequently a necessity and never 
a crime. As to disobedience to an obsolescent law, the 
question in every man's mind must be as to the degree 
of its obsolescence. Laws are made obsolescent by change 
of circumstances, by the growth of convictions which ren- 
der their execution impossible, and the like. Every man, 
therefore, must solemnly decide for himself at what pe- 
riod a law is virtually obsolete. ' ' 

I must confess that the doctrine seems to me now 
rather dangerous, but at that time I welcomed it as a very 
serviceable piece of casuistry, and felt that there was in- 
deed, as Mr. Seward had declared, a "higher law" than 
the iniquitous enactment which allowed the taking of a 
peaceful citizen back into slavery, without any of the 



70 POLITICAL LIFE-II 

safeguards which had been developed under Anglo-Saxon 
liberty. 

Though my political feelings throughout the senior 
year grew more and more intense, there was no chance 
for their expression either in competition for the Clarke 
Essay Prize or for the De Forest Oration Gold Medal, 
the subjects of both being assigned by the faculty; and 
though I afterward had the satisfaction of taking both 
these, my exultation was greatly alloyed by the thought 
that the ideas I most cherished could find little, if any, 
expression in them. 

But on Commencement Day my chance came. Then I 
chose my own theme, and on the subject of "Modern 
Oracles" poured forth my views to a church full of peo- 
ple; many evidently disgusted, but a few as evidently 
pleased. I dwelt especially upon sundry utterances of 
John Quincy Adams, who had died not long before, and 
who had been, during all his later years, a most earnest op- 
ponent of slavery, and I argued that these, with the dec- 
larations of other statesmen of like tendencies, were the 
oracles to which the nation should listen. 

Curiously enough this commencement speech secured 
for me the friendship of a man who was opposed to my 
ideas, but seemed to like my presenting them then and 
there— the governor of the State, Colonel Thomas Sey- 
mour. He had served with distinction in the Mexican 
War, had been elected and reelected, again and again, 
governor of Connecticut, was devotedly pro-slavery, in 
the interest, as he thought, of preserving the Union; but 
he remembered my speech, and afterward, when he was 
made minister to Russia, invited me to go with him, at- 
tached me to his Legation, and became one of the dearest 
friends I have ever had. 

Of the diplomatic phase of my life into which he in- 
itiated me, I shall speak in another chapter; but, as re- 
gards my political life, he influenced me decidedly, for 
his conversation and the reading he suggested led me to 
study closely the writings of Jefferson. The impulse 



EARLY MANHOOD-1851-1857 71 

thus given my mind was not spent until the Civil War, 
which, betraying the ultimate results of sundry Jefferso- 
nian ideas, led me to revise my opinions somewhat and 
to moderate my admiration for the founder of American 
' ' Democracy, ' ' though I have ever since retained a strong 
interest in his teaching. 

But deeply as both the governor and myself felt on the 
slavery question, we both avoided it in our conversation. 
Each knew how earnestly the other felt regarding it, and 
each, as if by instinct, kept clear of a discussion which 
could not change our opinions, and might wreck our 
friendship. The result was, that, so far as I remember, 
we never even alluded to it during the whole year we were 
together. Every other subject we discussed freely, but 
this we never touched. The nearest approach to a dis- 
cussion was when one day in the Legation Chancery at 
St. Petersburg, Mr. Erving, also a devoted Union pro- 
slavery Democrat, pointing to a map of the United States 
hanging on the wall, went into a rhapsody over the ex- 
tension of the power and wealth of our country. I an- 
swered, "If our country could get rid of slavery in all 
that beautiful region of the South, such a riddance would 
be cheap at the cost of fifty thousand lives and a hun- 
dred millions of dollars." At this Erving burst forth 
into a torrent of brotherly anger. "There was no con- 
ceivable cause," he said, "worth the sacrifice of fifty 
thousand lives, and the loss of a hundred millions of 
dollars would mean the blotting out of the whole pros- 
perity of the nation." His deep earnestness showed me 
the impossibility of converting a man of his opinions, 
and the danger of wrecking our friendship by attempting 
it. Little did either of us dream that within ten years 
from that day slavery was to be abolished in the United 
States, at the sacrifice not of fifty thousand, but of nearly 
a million lives, and at the cost not merely of a hundred 
millions, but, when all is told, of at least ten thousand 
millions of dollars! 

I may mention here that it was in this companionship, 



72 POLITICAL LIFE-II 

at St. Petersburg, that I began to learn why newspaper 
criticism has, in our country, so little permanent effect on 
the reputation of eminent men. During four years before 
coming abroad I had read, in leading Republican journals 
of New York and New Haven, denunciations of Governor 
Thomas H e nry Seymour as an ignoramus, a pretender, 
a blatant demagogue, a sot and companion of sots, an 
associate, and fit associate, for the most worthless of the 
populace. I had now found him a man of real convictions, 
thoroughly a gentleman, quiet, conscientious, kindly, stu- 
dious, thoughtful, modest, abstemious, hardly ever touch- 
ing a glass of wine, a man esteemed and beloved by all 
who really knew him. Thus was first revealed to me 
what, in my opinion, is the worst evil in American public 
life,— that facility for unlimited slander, of which the first 
result is to degrade our public men, and the second result 
is to rob the press of that confidence among thinking 
people, and that power for good and against evil which it 
really ought to exercise. Since that time I have seen 
many other examples strengthening the same conviction. 

Leaving St. Petersburg, I followed historical and, to 
some extent, political studies at the University of Berlin, 
having previously given attention to them in France ; and 
finally, traveling in Italy, became acquainted with a man 
who made a strong impression upon me. This was 
Mr. Robert Dale Owen, then the American minister at 
Naples, whose pictures of Neapolitan despotism, as it 
then existed, made me even a stronger Republican than I 
had been before. 

Returning to America I found myself on the eve of the 
new presidential election. The Republicans had nom- 
inated John C. Fremont, of whom all I knew was gathered 
from his books of travel. The Democrats had nominated 
James Buchanan, whom I, as an attache of the legation 
at St. Petersburg, had met while he was minister of the 
United States at London. He was a most kindly and 
impressive old gentleman, had welcomed me cordially at 
his legation, and at a large dinner given by Mr. George 



EARLY MANHOOD -1851-1857 73 

Peabody, at that time the American Amphitryon in the 
British metropolis, discussed current questions in a way 
that fascinated me. Of that I may speak in another chap- 
ter; suffice it here that he was one of the most attractive 
men in conversation I have ever met, and that is saying 
much. 

I took but slight part in the campaign ; in fact, a natural 
diffidence kept me aloof from active politics. Having 
given up all hope or desire for political preferment, and 
chosen a university career, I merely published a few news- 
paper and magazine articles, in the general interest of anti- 
slavery ideas, but made no speeches, feeling myself, in fact, 
unfit to make them. 

But I shared more and more the feelings of those who 
supported Fremont. 

Mr. Buchanan, though personal acquaintance had 
taught me to like him as a man, and the reading of his 
despatches in the archives of our legation at St. Peters- 
burg had forced me to respect him as a statesman, repre- 
sented to me the encroachments and domination of Ameri- 
can slavery, while Fremont represented resistance to such 
encroachments, and the perpetuity of freedom upon the 
American Continent. 

On election day, 1856, I went to the polls at the City 
Hall of Syracuse to cast my first vote. There I chanced 
to meet an old schoolmate who had become a brilliant 
young lawyer, Victor Gardner, with whom, in the old 
days, I had often discussed political questions, he being 
a Democrat and I a Republican. But he had now come 
upon new ground, and, wishing me to do the same, he ten- 
dered me what was known as "The American Ticket," 
bearing at its head the name of Millard Fillmore. He 
claimed that it represented resistance to the encroach- 
ments and dangers which he saw in the enormous for- 
eign immigration of the period, and above all in the in- 
creasing despotism of the Roman Catholic hierarchy 
controlling the Irish vote. Most eloquently did my old 
friend discourse on the dangers from this source. He 



74 POLITICAL LIFE-II 

insisted that Roman Catholic bishops and priests had 
wrecked every country in which they had ever gained 
control; that they had aided in turning the mediaeval re- 
publics into despotisms; that they had ruined Spain and 
the South American republics; that they had rendered 
Poland and Ireland unable to resist oppression ; that they 
had hopelessly enfeebled Austria and Italy; that by St. 
Bartholomew massacres and clearing out of Huguenots 
they had made, first, terrorism, and, finally, despotism 
necessary in France ; that they had rendered every people 
they had controlled careless of truth and inclined to des- 
potism,— either of monarchs or "bosses";— that our pris- 
ons were filled with the youth whom they had trained in 
religion and morals; that they were ready to ravage the 
world with fire and sword to gain the slightest point for 
the Papacy ; that they were the sworn foes of our public- 
school system, without which no such thing as republi- 
can government could exist among us ; that, in fact, their 
bishops and priests were the enemies of everything we 
Americans should hold dear, and that their church was 
not so much a religious organization as a political con- 
spiracy against the best that mankind had achieved. 

"Look at the Italians, Spanish, French to-day," he 
said. ' ' The Church has had them under its complete con- 
trol fifteen hundred years, and you see the result. Look 
at the Irish all about us;— always screaming for liberty, 
yet the most abject slaves of their passions and of their 
priesthood." 

He spoke with the deepest earnestness and even elo- 
quence ; others gathered round, and some took his tickets. 
I refused them, saying, "No. The question of all ques- 
tions to me is whether slavery or freedom is to rule this 
Republic," and, having taken a Republican ticket, I went 
up-stairs to the polls. On my arrival at the ballot-box 
came a most exasperating thing. A drunken Irish Dem- 
ocrat standing there challenged my vote. He had, per- 
haps, not been in the country six months; I had lived 
in that very ward since my childhood, knew and was 



EARLY MANHOOD -1851 -1857 75 

known by every other person present; and such was my 
disgust that it is not at all unlikely that if one of Gard- 
ner's tickets had been in my pocket, it would have gone 
into the ballot-box. But persons standing by,— Demo- 
crats as well as Republicans,— having quieted this per- 
fervid patriot, and saved me from the ignominy of swear- 
ing in my vote, I carried out my original intention, and 
cast my first vote for the Republican candidate. 

Certainly Providence was kind to the United States 
in that contest. For Fremont was not elected. Looking 
back over the history of the United States I see, thus far, 
no instant when everything we hold dear was so much in 
peril as on that election day. 

We of the Republican party were fearfully mistaken, 
and among many evidences in history that there is ''a 
Power in the universe, not ourselves, which makes for 
righteousness," I think that the non-election of Fremont 
is one of the most convincing. His election would have 
precipitated the contest brought on four years later by 
the election of Lincoln. But the Northern States had in 
1856 no such preponderance as they had four years later. 
No series of events had then occurred to arouse and con- 
solidate anti-slavery feeling like those between 1856 and 
1860. Moreover, of all candidates for the Presidency ever 
formally nominated by either of the great parties up to 
that time, Fremont was probably the most unfit. He had 
gained credit for his expedition across the plains to Cali- 
fornia, and deservedly ; his popular name of ' ' Pathfinder ' ' 
might have been of some little use in a political campaign, 
and some romantic interest attached to him on account of 
his marriage with Jessie Benton, daughter of the burly, 
doughty, honest-purposed, headstrong senator from Mis- 
souri. But his earlier career, when closely examined, and, 
even more than that, his later career, during the Civil 
War, showed doubtful fitness for any duties demanding 
clear purpose, consecutive thought, adhesion to a broad 
policy, wisdom in counsel, or steadiness in action. Had 
he been elected in 1856 one of two things would un- 



76 POLITICAL LIFE-II 

doubtedly have followed: either the Union would have 
been permanently dissolved, or it would have been re- 
established by anchoring slavery forever in the Consti- 
tution. Never was there a greater escape. 

On March 1, 1857, I visited Washington for the first 
time. It was indeed the first time I had ever trodden 
the soil of a slave State, and, going through Baltimore, 
a sense of this gave me a feeling of horror. The whole 
atmosphere of that city seemed gloomy, and the city of 
Washington no better. Our little company established 
itself at the National Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, then 
a famous hostelry. Henry Clay had died there not long 
before, and various eminent statesmen had made it, and 
were then making it, their headquarters. 

On the evening of my arrival a curious occurrence 
showed me the difference between Northern and Southern 
civilization. As I sat in the reading-room, there rattled 
upon my ear utterances betokening a vigorous dispute in 
the adjoining bar-room, and, as they were loud and long, 
I rose and walked toward the disputants, as men are wont 
to do on such occasions in the North; when, to my sur- 
prise I found that, though the voices were growing stead- 
ily louder, people were very generally leaving the room; 
presently, the reason dawned upon me: it was a case in 
which revolvers might be drawn at any moment, and the 
bystanders evidently thought life and limb more valuable 
than any information they were likely to obtain by re- 
maining. 

On the evening of the third of March I went with the 
crowd to the White House. We were marshalled through 
the halls, President Pierce standing in the small chamber 
adjoining the East Room to receive the guests, around 
him being members of the Cabinet, with others distin- 
guished in the civil, military, and naval service, and, 
among them, especially prominent, Senator Douglas, then 
at the height of his career. Persons in the procession 
were formally presented, receiving a kindly handshake, 
and then allowed to pass on. My abhorrence of the Presi- 



EARLY MANHOOD -1851-1 857 77 

dent and of Douglas was so bitter that I did a thing for 
which the only excuse was my youth:— I held my right 
hand by my side, walked by and refused to be presented. 

Next morning I was in the crowd at the east front of the 
Capitol, and, at the time appointed, Mr. Buchanan came 
forth and took the oath administered to him by the Chief 
Justice,- Roger Brooke Taney of Maryland. Though 
Taney was very decrepit and feeble, I looked at him much 
as a Spanish Protestant in the sixteenth century would 
have looked at Torquemada; for, as Chief Justice, he 
was understood to be in the forefront of those who would 
fasten African slavery on the whole country; and this 
yiew of him seemed justified when, two days after the 
inauguration, he gave forth the Dred Scott decision, 
which interpreted the Constitution in accordance with 
the ultra pro-slavery theory of Calhoun. 

Having taken the oath, Mr. Buchanan delivered the in- 
augural address, and it made a deep impression upon me. 
I began to suspect then, and I fully believe now, that 
he was sincere, as, indeed, were most of those whom 
men of my way of thinking in those days attacked as 
pro-slavery tools and ridiculed as "doughfaces." We 
who had lived remote from the scene of action, and apart 
from pressing responsibility, had not realized the dan- 
ger of civil war and disunion. Mr. Buchanan, and men 
like him, in Congress, constantly associating with South- 
ern men, realized both these dangers. They honestly and 
patriotically shrank from this horrible prospect; and so, 
had we realized what was to come, would most of us have 
done. I did not see this then, but looking back across 
the abyss of years I distinctly see it now. The leaders 
on both sides were honest and patriotic, and, as I firmly 
believe, instruments of that "Power in the universe, not 
ourselves, which makes for righteousness." 

There was in Mr. Buchanan's inaugural address a tone 
of deep earnestness. He declared that all his efforts 
should be given to restore the Union, and to reestablish 
it upon permanent foundations; besought his fellow-citi- 



78 POLITICAL LIFE-II 

zens throughout the Union to second him in this effort, 
and promised that under no circumstances would he be 
a candidate for reelection. My anti-slavery feelings re- 
mained as deep as ever, but, hearing this speech, there 
came into my mind an inkling of the truth: "Hinter dem 
Berge sind auch Leute." 

During my stay in Washington I several times visited 
the Senate and the House, in the old quarters which they 
shortly afterward vacated in order to enter the more 
commodious rooms of the Capitol, then nearly finished. 
The Senate was in the room at present occupied by the 
Supreme Court, and from the gallery I looked down 
upon it with mingled feelings of awe, distrust, and aver- 
sion. There, as its president, sat Mason of Virginia, 
author of the fugitive slave law; there, at the desk in 
front of him, sat Cass of Michigan, who, for years, had 
been especially subservient to the slave power; Douglas 
of Illinois, who had brought about the destruction of the 
Missouri Compromise ; Butler of South Carolina, who 
represented in perfection the slave-owning aristocracy; 
Slidell and Benjamin of Louisiana, destined soon to play 
leading parts in the disruption of the Union. 

But there were others. There was Seward, of my own 
State, whom I had been brought up to revere, and who 
seemed to me, in the struggle then going on, the incar- 
nation of righteousness; there was Charles Sumner of 
Massachusetts, just recovering from the murderous 
blows given him by Preston Brooks of South Carolina, 
—a martyr, as I held, to his devotion to freedom; there 
was John Parker Hale of New Hampshire, who had 
been virtually threatened with murder, as a penalty for 
his opposition to slavery; and there was bluff Ben Wade 
of Ohio, whose courage strengthened the whole North. 

The House of Representatives interested me less. In 
it there sat various men now mainly passed out of 
human memory; and, unfortunately, the hall, though 
one of the finest, architecturally, in the world, was one 
of the least suited to its purpose. To hear anything 



EARLY MANHOOD -1851-1857 79 

either in the galleries or on the floor was almost an 
impossibility. 

The Supreme Court, though sitting in a wretched 
room in the basement, made a far deeper impression 
upon me. The judges, seated in a row, and wearing 
their simple, silken gowns, seemed to me, in their quiet 
dignity, what the highest court of a great republic ought 
to be; though I looked at Chief Justice Taney and his 
pro-slavery associates much as a Hindoo regards his 
destructive gods. 

The general impression made upon me at Washington 
was discouraging. It drove out from my mind the last 
lingering desire to take any part in politics. The whole 
life there was repulsive to me, and when I reflected that 
a stay of a few years in that forlorn, decaying, reeking 
city was the goal of political ambition, the whole thing 
seemed to me utterly worthless. The whole life there 
bore the impress of the slipshod habits engendered by 
slavery, and it seemed a civilization rotting before ripe- 
ness. The city was certainly, at that time, the most 
wretched capital in Christendom. Pennsylvania Avenue 
was a sort of Slough of Despond,— with ruts and mud- 
holes from the unfinished Capitol, at one end, to the un- 
finished Treasury building, at the other, and bounded 
on both sides with cheap brick tenements. The exten- 
sive new residence quarter and better hotels of these 
days had not been dreamed of. The "National," where 
we were living, was esteemed the best hotel, and it was 
abominable. Just before we arrived, what was known 
as the "National Hotel Disease" had broken out in it;— 
by some imputed to an attempt to poison the incoming 
President, in order to bring the Vice-President into his 
place. But that was the mere wild surmise of a polit- 
ical pessimist. The fact clearly was that the wretched 
sewage of Washington, in those days, which was betrayed 
in all parts of the hotel by every kind of noisome odor, 
had at last begun to do its work. Curiously enough there 
was an interregnum in the reign of sickness and death, 



80 POLITICAL LIFE-II 

probably owing to some temporary sanitary efforts, and 
that interregnum, fortunately for us, was coincident with 
our stay there. But the disease set in again shortly after- 
ward, and a college friend of mine, who arrived on the 
day of our departure, was detained in the hotel for many 
weeks with the fever then contracted. The number of 
deaths was considerable, but, in the interest of the hotel, 
the matter was hushed up, as far as possible. 

The following autumn I returned to New Haven as a 
resident graduate, and, the popular lecture system being 
then at its height, was invited to become one of the lec- 
turers in the course of that winter. I prepared my 
discourse with great care, basing it upon studies and 
observations during my recent stay in the land of the 
Czar, and gave it the title of ' ' Civilization in Russia. ' ' 

I remember feeling greatly honored by the fact that 
my predecessor in the course was Theodore Parker, and 
my successor Ralph Waldo Emerson. Both talked with 
me much about my subject, and Parker surprised me. 
He was the nearest approach to omniscience I had ever 
seen. He was able to read, not only Russian, but the 
Old Slavonic. He discussed the most intimate details of 
things in Russia, until, at last, I said to him, "Mr. 
Parker, I would much rather sit at your feet and listen 
to your information regarding Russia, than endeavor 
to give you any of my own." He was especially in- 
terested in the ethnology of the empire, and had an 
immense knowledge of the different peoples inhabiting 
it, and of their characteristics. Finally, he asked me 
what chance I thought there was for the growth of 
anything like free institutions in Russia. To this I an- 
swered that the best thing they had was their system 
of local peasant meetings for the repartition of their 
lands, and for the discussion of subjects connected with 
them, and that this seemed to me something like a germ 
of what might, in future generations, become a sort of 
town-meeting system, like that of New England. This 
let me out of the discussion very satisfactorily, for 



EARLY MANHOOD -1851-1857 81 

Parker told me that he had arrived at the same conclu- 
sion, after talking with Count Gurowski, who was, in 
those days, an especial authority. 

In due time came the evening for my lecture. As it 
was the first occasion since leaving college that I had 
appeared on any stage, a considerable number of my old 
college associates and friends, including Professor (af- 
terward President) Porter, Dr. Bacon, and Mr. (afterward 
Bishop) Little John, were there among the foremost, and 
after I had finished they said some kindly things, which 
encouraged me. 

In this lecture I made no mention of American slavery, 
but into an account .of the events of my stay at St. 
Petersburg and Moscow during the Crimean War, and 
of the death and funeral of the Emperor Nicholas, with 
the accession and first public address of Alexander II, 
I sketched, in broad strokes, the effects of the serf sys- 
tem,— effects not merely upon the serfs, but upon the 
serf owners, and upon the whole condition of the em- 
pire. I made it black indeed, as it deserved, and though 
not a word was said regarding things in America, every 
thoughtful man present must have felt that it was the 
strongest indictment against our own system of slavery 
which my powers enabled me to make. 

Next day came a curious episode. A classmate of mine, 
never distinguished for logical acuteness, came out in a 
leading daily paper with a violent attack upon me and 
my lecture. He lamented the fact that one who, as he said, 
had, while in college, shown much devotion to the anti- 
slavery cause, had now faced about, had no longer the 
courage of his opinions, and had not dared say a word 
against slavery in the United States. The article was 
laughable. It would have been easy to attack slavery and 
thus at once shut the minds and hearts of a large majority 
of the audience. But I felt then, as I have generally felt 
since, that the first and best thing to do is to set people at 
thinking, and to let them discover, or think that they dis- 
cover, the truth for themselves. I made no reply, but an 

I.-6 



82 POLITICAL LIFE-II 

eminent clergyman of New Haven took up the cudgels in 
my favor, covered my opponent with ridicule, and did me 
the honor to declare that my lecture was one of the most 
effective anti-slavery arguments ever made in that city. 
With this, I retired from the field well satisfied. 

The lecture was asked for in various parts of the coun- 
try, was delivered at various colleges and universities, and 
in many cities of western New York, Michigan, and Ohio ; 
and finally, after the emancipation of the serfs, was re- 
cast and republished in the " Atlantic Monthly" under the 
title of "The Rise and Decline of the Serf System in 
Russia. ' ' 

And now occurred a great change in my career which, 
as I fully believed, was to cut me off from all political life 
thoroughly and permanently. This was my election to 
the professorship of history and English literature in the 
University of Michigan. 



CHAPTER V 

THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD — 1857-1864 

A REIVING at the University of Michigan in October, 
jl\. 1857, I threw myself into my new work most hear- 
tily. Though I felt deeply the importance of the ques- 
tions then before the country, it seemed to me that the only 
way in which I could contribute anything to their solution 
was in aiding to train up a new race of young men who 
should understand our own time and its problems in the 
light of history. 

It was not difficult to point out many things in the past 
that had an important bearing upon the present, and my 
main work in this line was done in my lecture-room. I 
made no attempts to proselyte any of my hearers to either 
political party, my main aim being then, as it has been 
through my life, when dealing with students and the pub- 
lic at large, to set my audience or my readers at thinking, 
and to give them fruitful historical subjects to think 
upon. Among these subjects especially brought out in 
dealing with the middle ages, was the origin, growth, and 
decline of feudalism, and especially of the serf system, 
and of municipal liberties as connected with it. This, of 
course, had a general bearing upon the important problem 
we had to solve in the United States during the second half 
of that century. 

In my lectures on modern history, and especially on the 
Reformation period, and the events which led to the 
French Revolution, there were various things throwing 
light upon our own problems, which served my purpose 
of arousing thought. My audiences were large and at- 
tentive, and I have never, in the whole course of my life, 

83 



84 POLITICAL LIFE-III 

enjoyed any work so much as this, which brought me into 
hearty and close relations with a large body of active- 
minded students from all parts of our country, and es- 
pecially from the Northwest. More and more I realized 
the justice of President Wayland's remark, which had so 
impressed me at the Yale Alumni meeting just after my 
return from Europe: that the nation was approaching 
a " switching-off place"; that whether we were to turn 
toward evil or good in our politics would be decided by the 
great Northwest, and that it would be well for young 
Americans to cast in their lot with that part of the country. 

In the intervals of my university work many invitations 
came to me from associations in various parts of Michigan 
and neighboring States to lecture before them, and these 
I was glad to accept. Such lectures were of a much more 
general character than those given in the university, but 
by them I sought to bring the people at large into trains 
of thought which would fit them to grapple with the great 
question which was rising more and more portentously 
before us. 

Having accepted, in one of my vacations, an invitation 
to deliver the Phi Beta Kappa Commencement Address 
at Yale, I laid down as my thesis, and argued it from his- 
tory, that in all republics, ancient or modern, the worst 
foe of freedom had been a man-owning aristocracy— an 
aristocracy based upon slavery. The address was circu- 
lated in printed form, was considerably discussed, and, I 
trust, helped to set some few people thinking. 

For the same purpose I also threw some of my lectures 
into the form of magazine articles for the "Atlantic 
Monthly," and especially one entitled "The Statesman- 
ship of Richelieu, ' ' my effort in this being to show that the 
one great error of that greatest of all French statesmen 
was in stopping short of rooting out the serf system in 
France when he had completely subjugated the serf own- 
ers and had them at his mercy. 

As the year 1860 approached, the political struggle be- 
came more and more bitter. President Buchanan in re- 



THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD -1857-1864 85 

deeming his promise to maintain the Union had gone to 
lengths which startled and disappointed many of his most 
devoted supporters. Civil war had broken out in Kansas 
and Nebraska, with murder and massacre: desperate at- 
tempts were made to fasten the hold of the pro-slavery 
party permanently upon the State, and as desperately were 
these efforts repelled. A certain John Brown, who re- 
quited assassination of free-state men by the assassination 
of slave-state men,— a very ominous appearance,— began 
to be heard of; men like Professor Silliman, who, during 
my stay at Yale had spoken at Union meetings in favor of 
the new compromise measures, even including the fugitive 
slave law, now spoke publicly in favor of sending rifles to 
the free-state men in Kansas ; and, most striking symptom 
of all, Stephen A. Douglas himself, who had led the Demo- 
cratic party in breaking the Missouri Compromise, now 
recoiled from the ultra pro-slavery propaganda of Presi- 
dent Buchanan. Then, too, came a new incitement to bit- 
terness between North and South. John Brown, the 
man of Scotch-Covenanter type, who had imbibed his 
theories of political methods from the Old-Testament an- 
nals of Jewish dealings with the heathen, and who had in 
Kansas solemnly slaughtered in cold blood, as a sort of 
sacrifice before the Lord, sundry Missouri marauders who 
had assassinated free-state men, suddenly appeared in 
Virginia, and there, at Harper 's Ferry, with a handful of 
fanatics subject to his powerful will, raised the standard 
of revolution against the slave-power. Of course he was 
easily beaten down, his forces scattered, those dearest to 
him shot, and he himself hanged. But he was a character 
of antique mold, and this desperate effort followed by his 
death, while it exasperated the South, stirred the North to 
its depths. 

Like all such efforts, it was really mistaken and unfortu- 
nate. It helped to obscure Henry Clay's proposal to ex- 
tinguish slavery peaceably, and made the solution of the 
problem by bloodshed more and more certain. And in the 
execution of John Brown was lost a man who, had he 



86 POLITICAL LIFE-III 

lived until the Civil War, might have rendered enormous 
services as a partizan leader. Of course, his action aroused 
much thought among my students, and their ideas came 
out in their public discussions. It was part of my duty, 
once or twice a week, to preside over these discussions, and 
to decide between the views presented. In these decisions 
on the political questions now arising I became deeply in- 
terested, and while I was careful not to give them a parti- 
zan character, they were, of course, opposed to the domi- 
nance of slavery. 

In the spring of 1860, the Republican National Conven- 
tion was held at Chicago, and one fine morning I went to 
the railway station to greet the New York delegation on 
its way thither. Among the delegates whom I especially 
recall were William M. Evarts, under whose Secretary- 
ship of State I afterward served as minister at Berlin, 
and my old college friend, Stewart L. Woodford, with 
whom I was later in close relations during his term as 
lieutenant-governor of New York and minister to Spain. 
The candidate of these New York delegates was of course 
Mr. Seward, and my most devout hopes were with him, 
but a few days later came news that the nomination had 
been awarded to Mr. Lincoln. Him we had come to know 
and admire during his debates with Douglas while the 
senatorial contest was going on in the State of Illinois; 
still the defeat of Mr. Seward was a great disappointment, 
and hardly less so in Michigan than in New York. In the 
political campaign which followed I took no direct part, 
though especially aroused by the speeches of a new man 
who had just appeared above the horizon,— Carl Schurz. 
His arguments seemed to me by far the best of that whole 
campaign— the broadest, the deepest, and the most con- 
vincing. 

My dear and honored father, during the months of July, 
August, and the first days of September, was slowly fad- 
ing away on his death-bed. Yet he was none the less in- 
terested in the question at issue, and every day I sat by 
his bedside and read to him the literature bearing upon 



THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD-1857-1864 87 

the contest ; but of all the speeches he best liked those of 
this new orator— he preferred them, indeed, to those of his 
idol Seward. 

I have related in another place how, years afterward, 
Bismarck asked me, in Berlin, to what Carl Schurz's great 
success in America was due, and my answer to this ques- 
tion. 

Mr. Lincoln having been elected, I went on with my 
duties as before, but the struggle was rapidly deepening. 
Soon came premonitions of real conflict, and, early in the 
following spring, civil war was upon us. My teaching 
went on, as of old, but it became more direct. In order 
to show what the maintenance of a republic was worth, 
and what patriots had been willing to do for their country 
in a struggle not unlike ours, I advised my students to read 
Motley's "History of the Dutch Republic," and I still 
think it was good advice. Other works, of a similar char- 
acter, showing how free peoples have conducted long and 
desperate wars for the maintenance of their national exis- 
tence and of liberty, I also recommended, and with good 
effect. 

Reverses came. During part of my vacation, in the sum- 
mer of 1861, 1 was at Syracuse, and had, as my guest, Mr. 
George Sumner, younger brother of the eminent senator 
from Massachusetts, a man who had seen much of the 
world, had written magazine articles and reviews which 
had done him credit, and whose popular lectures were 
widely esteemed. One Sunday afternoon in June my 
uncle, Mr. Hamilton White, dropped in at my house to 
make a friendly call. He had just returned from Wash- 
ington, where he had seen his old friend Seward, Mr. Lin- 
coln 's Secretary of State, and felt able to give us a fore- 
cast of the future. This uncle of mine was a thoughtful 
man of affairs; successful in business, excellent in judg- 
ment, not at all prone to sanguine or flighty views, and on 
our asking him how matters looked in Washington he 
said, "Depend upon it, it is all right: Seward says that 
they have decided to end the trouble at once, even if it is 



88 POLITICAL LIFE-III 

necessary to raise an army of fifty thousand men;— that 
they will send troops immediately to Richmond and finish 
the whole thing at once, so that the country can go on 
quietly about its business." 

There was, of course, something reassuring in so fa- 
vorable a statement made by a sensible man fresh from 
the most accredited sources, and yet I could not resist 
grave doubts. Such historical knowledge as I possessed 
taught me that a struggle like that just beginning between 
two great principles, both of which had been gathering 
force for nearly a century, and each of which had drawn 
to its support millions of devoted men, was not to be ended 
so easily ; but I held my peace. 

Next day I took Mr. Sumner on an excursion up the 
beautiful Onondaga Valley. As we drove through the 
streets of Syracuse, noticing knots of men gathered here 
and there in discussion, and especially at the doors of the 
news offices, we secured an afternoon newspaper and drove 
on, engaged in earnest conversation. It was a charming 
day, and as we came to the shade of some large trees about 
two miles from the city we rested and I took out the paper. 
It struck me like death. There, displayed in all its hor- 
rors, was the first account of the Battle of Bull Run,— 
which had been fought the previous afternoon,— exactly 
at the time when my uncle was assuring us that the United 
States Army was to march at once to Richmond and end 
the war. The catastrophe seemed fatal. The plans of 
General McDowell had come utterly to nought ; our army 
had been scattered to the four winds; large numbers of 
persons, including sundry members of Congress who had 
airily gone out with the army to "see the fun," among 
them one from our own neighborhood, Mr. Alfred Ely, 
of Rochester, had been captured and sent to Richmond, 
and the rebels were said to be in full march on the National 
Capital. 

Sumner was jubilant. ' ' This, ' ' he said, ' ' will make the 
American people understand what they have to do; this 
will stop talk such as your uncle gave us yesterday after- 



THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD-1857-1864 89 

noon." But to me it was a fearful moment. Sumner's 
remarks grated horribly upon my ears; true as his view 
was, I could not yet accept it. 

And now preparations for war, and, indeed, for repel- 
ling invasion, began in earnest. My friends all about me 
were volunteering, and I also volunteered, but was re- 
jected with scorn ; the examining physician saying to me, 
"You will be a burden upon the government in the first 
hospital you reach; you have not the constitution to be 
of use in carrying a musket ; your work must be of a dif- 
ferent sort. " 

My work, then, through the summer was with those who 
sought to raise troops and to provide equipments for 
them. There was great need of this, and, in my opinion, 
the American people have never appeared to better ad- 
vantage than at that time, when they began to realize their 
duty, and to set themselves at doing it. In every city, 
village, and hamlet, men and women took hold of the work, 
feeling that the war was their own personal business. No 
other country since the world began has ever seen a more 
noble outburst of patriotism or more efficient aid by in- 
dividuals to their government. The National and State 
authorities of course did everything in their power; but 
men and women did not wait for them. With the excep- 
tion of those whose bitter partizanship led them to oppose 
the war in all its phases, men, women, and children en- 
gaged heartily and efficiently in efforts to aid the Union 
in its struggle. 

Various things showed the depths of this feeling. I 
remember meeting one day, at that period, a man who had 
risen by hard work from simple beginnings to the head 
of an immense business, and had made himself a multi- 
millionaire. He was a hard, determined, shrewd man of 
affairs, the last man in the world to show anything like 
sentimentalism, and as he said something advising an in- 
vestment in the newly created National debt, I answered, 
"You are not, then, one of those who believe that our 
new debt will be repudiated?" He answered: "Repudia- 



90 POLITICAL LIFE -III 

tion or no repudiation, I am putting everything I can rake 
and scrape together into National bonds, to help this 
government maintain itself; for, by G— d, if I am not 
to have any country, I don't want any money." It is 
to be hoped that this oath, bursting forth from a patriotic 
heart, was, like Uncle Toby's, blotted out by the record- 
ing angel. I have quoted it more than once to show how 
the average American— though apparently a crude mate- 
rialist—is, at heart, a thorough idealist. 

Returning to the University of Michigan at the close 
of the vacation, I found that many of my students had en- 
listed, and that many more were preparing to do so. With 
some it was hard indeed. I remember two especially, who 
had for years labored and saved to raise the money which 
would enable them to take their university course; they 
had hesitated, for a time, to enlist; but very early one 
morning I was called out of bed by a message from them, 
and, meeting them, found them ready to leave for the 
army. They could resist their patriotic convictions no 
longer, and they had come to say good-bye to me. They 
went into the war ; they fought bravely through the thick- 
est of it; and though one was badly wounded, both lived 
to return, and are to-day honored citizens. With many 
others it was different; many, very many of them, alas, 
were among the ' ' unreturning brave ! ' ' and loveliest and 
noblest of all, my dear friend and student, Frederick Arne, 
of Princeton, Illinois, killed in the battle of Shiloh, at the 
very beginning of the war, when all was blackness and dis- 
couragement. Another of my dearest students at that time 
was Albert Nye. Scholarly, eloquent, noble-hearted, with 
every gift to ensure success in civil life, he went forth 
with the others, rose to be captain of a company, and I 
think major of a regiment. He sent me most kindly mes- 
sages, and at one time a bowie-knife captured from a rebel 
soldier. But, alas ! he was not to return. 

I may remark, in passing, that while these young men 
from the universities, and a vast host of others from dif- 
ferent walks of life, were going forth to lay down their 



THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD-1857-1864 91 

lives for their country, the English press, almost without 
exception, from the ' ' Times ' ' down, was insisting that we 
were fighting our battles with "mercenaries." 

One way in which those of us who remained at the uni- 
versity helped the good cause was in promoting the mili- 
tary drill of those who had determined to become soldiers. 
It was very difficult to secure the proper military instruc- 
tion, but in Detroit I found a West Point graduate, engaged 
him to come out a certain number of times every week to 
drill the students, and he cheered us much by saying that 
he had never in his life seen soldiers so much in earnest, 
and so rapid in making themselves masters of the drill 
and tactics. 

One of my advisers at this period, and one of the no- 
blest men I have ever met, was Lieutenant Kirby Smith, 
a graduate of West Point, and a lieutenant in the army. 
His father, after whom he was named, had been killed at 
the Battle of Molino del Rey, in the Mexican War. His 
uncle, also known as Kirby Smith, was a general in the 
Confederate service. His mother, one of the dearest 
friends of my family, was a woman of extraordinary abil- 
ities, and of the noblest qualities. Never have I known a 
young officer of more promise. With him I discussed 
from time to time the probabilities of the war. He was 
full of devotion, quieted my fears, and strengthened 
my hopes. He, too, fought splendidly for his country, and, 
like his father, laid down his life for it. 

The bitterest disappointment of that period, and I regret 
deeply to chronicle it, was the conduct of the government 
and ruling classes in England. In view of the fact that 
popular sentiment in Great Britain, especially as voiced 
in its literature, in its press, and from its pulpit, had been 
against slavery, I had never doubted that in this struggle, 
so evidently between slavery and freedom, Great Britain 
would be unanimously on our side. To my amazement 
signs soon began to point in another direction. More and 
more it became evident that British feeling was against 
us. To my students, who inquired how this could possibly 



92 POLITICAL LIFE- III 

be, I said, "Wait till Lord John Russell speaks." Lord 
John Russell spoke, and my heart sank within me. He was 
the solemnly constituted impostor whose criminal care- 
lessness let out the Alabama to prey upon our commerce, 
and who would have let out more cruisers had not Mr. 
Charles Francis Adams, the American minister, brought 
him to reason. 

Lord John Russell was noted for his coolness, but in 
this respect Mr. Adams was more than his match. In 
after years I remember a joke based upon this character- 
istic. During a very hot summer in Kansas, when the 
State was suffering with drought, some newspaper pro- 
posed, and the press very generally acquiesced in the sug- 
gestion, that Mr. Charles Francis Adams should be asked 
to take a tour through the State, in order, by his presence, 
to reduce its temperature. 

When, therefore, Lord John Russell showed no signs 
of interfering with the sending forth of English ships,— 
English built, English equipped, and largely English 
manned,— against our commerce, Mr. Adams, having 
summed up to his Lordship the conduct of the British 
Government in the matter, closed in his most icy way with 
the words : ' ' My lord,, I need hardly remind you that this 
is war." 

The result was, that tardily,— just in time to prevent war 
between the two nations, — orders were given which pre- 
vented the passing out of more cruisers. 

Goldwin Smith, who in the days of his professorship at 
Oxford, saw much of Lord John Russell, once told me that 
his lordship always made upon him the impression of 
"an eminent corn-doctor." 

During the following summer, that of 1863, being much 
broken down by overwork, and threatened, as I supposed, 
with heart disease, which turned out to be the beginning 
of a troublesome dyspepsia, I was strongly recommended 
by my physician to take a rapid run to Europe, and though 
very reluctant to leave home, was at last persuaded to go 
to New York to take my passage. Arrived there, bad news 



THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD -1857 -1864 93 

still coming from the seat of war, I could not bring myself 
at the steamer office to sign the necessary papers, finally 
refused, and having returned home, took part for the first 
time in a political campaign as a speaker, going through 
central New York, and supporting the Republican can- 
didate against the Democratic. The election seemed of 
vast importance. The Democrats had nominated for the 
governorship, Mr. Horatio Seymour, a man of the high- 
est personal character, and, so far as the usual duties of 
governor were concerned, admirable; but he had been 
bitterly opposed to the war, and it seemed sure that his 
election would encourage the South and make disunion 
certain; therefore it was that I threw myself into the 
campaign with all my might, speaking night and day ; but 
alas ! the election went against us. 

At the close of the campaign, my dyspepsia returning 
with renewed violence, I was thinking what should be done, 
when I happened to meet my father's old friend, Mr. 
Thurlow Weed, a devoted adherent of Mr. Seward through 
his whole career, and, at that moment, one of the main sup- 
ports of the Lincoln Administration. It was upon the 
deck of a North River steamer, and on my mentioning my 
dilemma he said: ''You can just now do more for us 
abroad than at home. You can work in the same line with 
Archbishop Hughes, Bishop Mcllvaine, and myself ; every- 
thing that can be done, in the shape of contributions to 
newspapers, or speeches, even to the most restricted au- 
diences abroad, will help us: the great thing is to gain 
time, increase the number of those who oppose European 
intervention in our affairs, and procure takers for our 
new National bonds." 

The result was that I made a short visit to Europe, 
stopping first in London. Political feeling there was bit- 
terly against us. A handful of true men, John Bright and 
Goldwin Smith at the head of them, were doing heroic 
work in our behalf, but the forces against them seemed 
overwhelming. Drawing money one morning in one of 
the large banks of London, I happened to exhibit a few 



94 POLITICAL LIFE -III 

of the new National greenback notes which had been re- 
cently issued by our Government. The moment the clerk 
saw them he called out loudly, "Don't offer us any of 
those things ; we don 't take them ; they will never be good 
for anything." I was greatly vexed, of course, but there 
was no help for it. At another time I went into a famous 
book-shop near the Haymarket to purchase a rare book 
which I had long coveted. It was just after the Battle of 
Fredericksburg. The book-seller was chatting with a cus- 
tomer, and finally, with evident satisfaction, said to him : 
' ' I see the Yankees have been beaten again. " " Yes, ' ' said 
the customer, "and the papers say that ten thousand of 
them have been killed." "Good," said the shop-keeper, 
' ' I wish it had been twice as many. ' ' Of course it was im- 
possible for me to make any purchase in that place. 

In order to ascertain public sentiment I visited certain 
"discussion forums," as they are called, frequented by 
contributors to the press and young lawyers from the 
Temple and Inns of Court. In those places there was, as 
a rule, a debate every night, and generally, in one form 
or another, upon the struggle then going on in the 
United States. There was, perhaps, in all this a trifle 
too much of the Three Tailors of Tooley Street; still, 
excellent speeches were frequently made, and there was a 
pleasure in doing my share in getting the company on the 
right side. On one occasion, after one of our worst re- 
verses during the war, an orator, with an Irish brogue, 
thickened by hot whisky, said, "I hope that Republic of 
blackguards is gone forever." But, afterward, on learn- 
ing that an American was present, apologized to me in a 
way effusive, laudatory, and even affectionate. 

But my main work was given to preparing a pamphlet, 
in answer to the letters from America by Dr. Russell, cor- 
respondent of the London "Times." Though nominally 
on our side, he clearly wrote his letters to suit the demands 
of the great journal which he served, and which was most 
bitterly opposed to us. Nothing could exceed its virulence 
against everything American. Every occurrence was 



THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD- 1857-1864 95 

placed in the worst light possible as regarded our in- 
terests, and even the telegraphic despatches were manipu- 
lated so as to do our cause all the injury possible. 1 there- 
fore prepared, with especial care, an answer to these let- 
ters of Dr. Russell, and published it in London. Its fate 
was what might have been expected. Some papers dis- 
cussed it fairly, but, on the whole, it was pooh-poohed, ex- 
plained away, and finally buried under new masses of slan- 
der. I did, indeed, find a few friends of my country in 
Great Britain. In Dublin I dined with Cairnes, the polit- 
ical economist, who had earnestly written in behalf of the 
Union against the Confederates ; and in London, with Pro- 
fessor Carpenter, the eminent physiologist, who, being 
devoted to anti-slavery ideas, was mildly favorable to the 
Union side. But I remember him less on account of any- 
thing he said relating to the struggle in America, than for 
a statement bearing upon the legitimacy of the sovereign 
then ruling in France, who was at heart one of our most 
dangerous enemies. Dr. Carpenter told me that some time 
previously he had been allowed by Nassau Senior, whose 
published conversations with various men of importance 
throughout Europe had attracted much attention, to look 
into some of the records which Mr. Senior had not thought 
it best to publish, and that among them he had read the 
following : 

" showed me to-day an autograph letter written by 

Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland, not far from the time 
of the birth of his putative son, now Napoleon III. One 
passage read as follows: 'J'ai le malheur d' avoir pour 
femme une Messaline. Elle a des amants partout, et par- 
tout elle laisse des enfants.' " 

I could not but think of this a few weeks later when I 
saw the emperor, who derived his title to the throne of 
France from his nominal father, poor King Louis, but 
whose personal appearance, like that of his brother, the 
Due de Morny, was evidently not derived from any Bo- 
naparte. All the Jerome Napoleons I have ever seen, in- 
cluding old King Jerome of Westphalia, and Prince Na- 



96 POLITICAL LIFE-III 

poleon Jerome, otherwise known as "Plon-Plon," whom 
I saw during my student life at Paris, and the eldest son 
of the latter, the present Bonaparte pretender to the Na- 
poleonic crown of France, whom I saw during my stay 
as minister at St. Petersburg, very strikingly resembled 
the first Napoleon, though all were of much larger size. 
But the Louis Napoleons, that is, the emperor and his 
brother the Due de Moray, had no single Napoleonic 
point in their features or bearing. 

I think that the most startling inspiration during my 
life was one morning when, on walking through the Gar- 
den of the Tuileries, I saw, within twenty feet of me, at 
a window, in the old palace, which afterward disappeared 
under the Commune, the emperor and his minister of 
finance, Achille Fould, seated together, evidently in earn- 
est discussion. There was not at that time any human 
being whom I so hated and abhorred as Napoleon III. 
He had broken his oath and trodden the French republic 
under his feet, he was aiding to keep down the aspirations 
of Italy, and he was doing his best to bring on an inter- 
vention of Europe, in behalf of the Confederate States, to 
dissolve our Union. He was then the arbiter of Europe. 
The world had not then discovered him to be what Bis- 
marck had already found him — "a great unrecognized in- 
capacity," and, as I looked up and distinctly saw him so 
near me, there flashed through my mind an understanding 
of some of the great crimes of political history, such as I 
have never had before or since. 1 

In France there was very little to be done for our cause. 
The great mass of Frenchmen were either indifferent or 
opposed to us. The only exception of importance was La- 
boulaye, professor at the College de France, and his lec- 
ture-room was a center of good influences in favor of 
the American cause ; in the midst of that frivolous Napo- 
leonic France he seemed by far "the noblest Roman of 
them all." 

1 Since writing this I find in the Autobiography of W. J. Stillman that a 
similar feeling once beset him on seeing this imperial malefactor. 



THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD- 1857-1864 97 

The main effort in our behalf was made by Mr. John 
Bigelow, at that time consul-general, but afterward min- 
ister of the United States,— to supply with arguments the 
very small number of Frenchmen who were inclined to 
favor the Union cause, and this he did thoroughly well. 

Somewhat later there came a piece of good fortune. 
Having been sent by a physician to the baths at Homburg, 
I found as our consul-general, at the neighboring city of 
Frankfort-on-the-Main, William Walton Murphy of Michi- 
gan, a life-long supporter of Mr. Seward, a most devoted 
and active American patriot;— a rough diamond; one of 
the most uncouth mortals that ever lived ; but big-hearted, 
shrewd, a general favorite, and prized even by those who 
smiled at his oddities. He had labored hard to induce the 
Frankfort bankers to take our government bonds, and to 
recommend them to their customers, and had at last been 
successful. In order to gain and maintain this success he 
had established in Frankfort a paper called "L 'Europe," 
for which he wrote and urged others to write. To this 
journal I became a contributor, and among my associates I 
especially remember the Rev. Dr. John McClintock, for- 
merly president of Dickinson College, and Dr. E. H. 
Chapin, of New York, so eminent in those days as a 
preacher. Under the influence of Mr. Murphy, Frankfort- 
on-the-Main became, and has since remained, a center of 
American ideas. Its leading journal was the only influ- 
ential daily paper in Germany which stood by us during 
our Spanish War. 

I recall a story told me by Mr. Murphy at that period. 
He had taken an American lady on a business errand to 
the bank of Baron Rothschild, and, after their business was 
over, presented her to the great banker. It happened that 
the Confederate loan had been floated in Europe by Baron 
Erlanger, also a Frankfort financial magnate, and by birth 
a Hebrew. In the conversation that ensued between this 
lady and Baron Rothschild, the latter said: "Madam, my 
sympathies are entirely with your country; but is it not 
disheartening to think that there are men in Europe who 



98 POLITICAL LIFE-III 

are lending their money and trying to induce others to 
lend it for the strengthening of human slavery? Madam, 
none but a converted Jew would do that." 

On the Fourth of July of that summer, Consul-General 
Murphy— always devising new means of upholding the 
flag of his country— summoned Americans from every 
part of Europe to celebrate the anniversary of our Na- 
tional Independence at Heidelberg, and at the dinner given 
at the Hotel Schreider seventy-four guests assembled, in- 
cluding two or three professors from the university, as 
against six guests from the Confederate States, who had 
held a celebration in the morning at the castle. Mr. Mur- 
phy presided and made a speech which warmed the hearts 
of us all. It was a thorough-going, old-fashioned, Western 
Fourth of July oration. I had jeered at Fourth of July 
orations all my life, but there was something in this one 
which showed me that these discourses, so often ridiculed, 
are not without their uses. Certain it is that as the consul- 
general repeated the phrases which had more than once 
rung through the Western clearings, in honor of the de- 
fenders of our country, the divine inspiration of the Con- 
stitution, our invincibility in war and our superiority in 
peace, all of us were encouraged and cheered most lustily. 
Pleasing was it to note various British tourists standing 
at the windows listening to the scream of the American 
eagle and evidently wondering what it all meant. 

Others of us spoke, and especially Dr. McClintock, one 
of the foremost thinkers, scholars, and patriots that the 
Methodist Episcopal church has ever produced. His 
speech was in a very serious vein, and well it might be. In 
the course of it he said : ' ' According to the last accounts 
General Lee and his forces are near the fown where I live, 
and are marching directly toward it. It is absolutely cer- 
tain that, if they reach it, they will burn my house and all 
that it contains, but I have no fear ; I believe that the Al- 
mighty is with us in this struggle, and though we may suf- 
fer much before its close, the Union is to endure and slav- 
ery is to go down before the forces of freedom." These 



THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD -1857 -1864 99 

words, coming from the heart of a strong man, made a 
deep impression upon us all. 

About two weeks later I left Frankfort for America, 
and at my parting from Consul-General Murphy at the 
hotel, he said: "Let me go in the carriage with you; this 
is steamer-day and we shall probably meet the vice-consul 
coming with the American mail." He got in, and we 
drove along the Zeil together. It was at the busiest time 
of the day, and we had just arrived at the point in that 
main street of Frankfort where business was most active, 
when the vice-consul met us and handed Mr. Murphy a 
newspaper. The latter tore it open, read a few lines, 
and then instantly jumped out into the middle of the street, 
waved his hat and began to sh,out. The public in general 
evidently thought him mad; a crowd assembled; but as 
soon as he could get his breath he pointed out the headlines 
of the newspaper. They indicated the victories of Gettys- 
burg and Vicksburg, and the ending of the war. It was, 
indeed, a great moment for us all. 

Arriving in America, I found that some friends had 
republished from the English edition my letter to Dr. 
Russell, that it had been widely circulated, and that, at any 
rate, it had done some good at home. 

Shortly afterward, being on a visit to my old friend, 
James T. Fields of Boston, I received a telegram from 
Syracuse as follows: "You are nominated to the State 
senate: come home and see who your friends are." I 
have received, in the course of my life, many astonishing 
messages, but this was the most unexpected of all. I had 
not merely not been a candidate for any such nomination, 
but had forgotten that any nomination was to be made ; I 
had paid no attention to the matter whatever; all my 
thoughts had been given to other subjects ; but on returning 
to Syracuse I found that a bitter contest having arisen be- 
tween two of the regular candidates, each representing a 
faction, the delegates had suddenly turned away from both 
and nominated me. My election followed and so began 
the most active phase of my political life. 



CHAPTER VI 

SENATORSHIP AT ALBANY— 1864-1867 

ON the evening of New Year's Day, 1864, I arrived in 
Albany to begin my duties in the State Senate, and 
certainly, from a practical point of view, no member of the 
legislature was more poorly equipped. I had, indeed, re- 
ceived a university education, such as it was, in those 
days, at home and abroad, and had perhaps read more than 
most college-bred men of my age, but all my education, 
study, and reading were remote from the duties now as- 
signed me. To history, literature, and theoretical politics, 
I had given considerable attention, but as regarded the 
actual necessities of the State of New York, the rela- 
tions of the legislature to the boards of supervisors of 
counties, to the municipal councils of cities, to the boards 
of education, charity, and the like, indeed, to the whole 
system throughout the Commonwealth, and to the 
modes of conducting public and private business, my ig- 
norance was deplorable. Many a time have I envied some 
plain farmer his term in a board of supervisors, or some 
country schoolmaster his relations to a board of education, 
or some alderman his experience in a common council, or 
some pettifogger his acquaintance with justices' courts. 
My knowledge of law and the making of law was wretch- 
edly deficient, and my ignorance of the practical adminis- 
tration of law was disgraceful. I had hardly ever been 
inside a court-house, and my main experience of legal pro- 
cedure was when one day I happened to step into court 
at Syracuse, and some old friends of mine thought it a 
good joke to put a university professor as a talesman upon 

100 



SENATORSHIP AT ALBANY -1864 -1867 101 

a jury in a horse case. Although pressed with business 
I did not flinch, but accepted the position, discharged its 
duties, and learned more of legal procedure and of human 
nature in six hours than I had ever before learned in six 
months. Ever afterward I advised my students to get 
themselves drawn upon a petit jury. I had read some 
Blackstone and some Kent and had heard a few law lec- 
tures, but my knowledge was purely theoretical: 
in constitutional law it was derived from reading scat- 
tered essays in the "Federalist," with extracts here 
and there from Story. Of the State charitable and 
penal institutions I knew nothing. Regarding colleges 
I was fairly well informed, but as to the practical 
working of our system of public instruction I had 
only the knowledge gained while a scholar in a public 
school. 

There was also another disadvantage. I knew nothing 
of the public men of the State. Having lived outside of 
the Commonwealth, first, as a student at Yale, then during 
nearly three years abroad, and then nearly six years as a 
professor in another State, I knew only one of my col- 
leagues, and of him I had only the knowledge that came 
from an introduction and five minutes' conversation ten 
years before. It was no better as regarded my acquain- 
tance with the State officers ; so far as I now remember, I 
had never seen one of them, except at a distance,— the 
governor, Mr. Horatio Seymour. 

On the evening after our arrival the Republican ma- 
jority of the Senate met in caucus, partly to become ac- 
quainted, partly to discuss appointments to committees, 
and partly to decide on a policy regarding State aid to 
the prosecution of the war for the Union. I found my- 
self the youngest member of this body, and, indeed, of 
the entire Senate, but soon made the acquaintance of my 
colleagues and gained some friendships which have been 
among the best things life has brought me. 

Foremost in the State Senate, at that period, was 
Charles James Folger, its president. He had served in 



102 POLITICAL LIFE-IV 

the Senate several years, had been a county judge, and 
was destined to become assistant treasurer of the United 
States at New York, chief justice of the highest State 
court, and finally, to die as Secretary of the Treasury of 
the United States, after the most crushing defeat which 
any candidate for the governorship of New York had ever 
known. He was an excellent lawyer, an impressive 
speaker, earnestly devoted to the proper discharge of his 
duties, and of extraordinarily fine personal appearance. 
His watch upon legislation sometimes amused me, but al- 
ways won my respect. Whenever a bill was read a third 
time he watched it as a cat watches a mouse. His hatred of 
doubtful or bad phraseology was a passion. He was 
greatly beloved and admired, yet, with all his fine and 
attractive qualities, modest and even diffident to a fault. 

Another man whom I then saw for the first time in- 
terested me much as soon as his name was called, and he 
would have interested me far more had I known how 
closely my after life was to be linked with his. He was 
then about sixty years of age, tall, spare, and austere, 
with a kindly eye, saying little, and that little dryly. He 
did not appear unamiable, but there seemed in him a sort 
of aloofness : this was Ezra Cornell. 

Still another senator was George H. Andrews, from 
the Otsego district, the old Palatine country. He had 
been editor of one of the leading papers in New York, 
and had been ranked among the foremost men in his pro- 
fession, but he had retired into the country to lead the 
life of a farmer. He was a man to be respected and even 
beloved. His work for the public was exceedingly valu- 
able, and his speeches of a high order. Judge Folger, 
as chairman of the judiciary committee, was most useful 
to the State at large in protecting it from evil legislation. 
Senator Andrews was not less valuable to the cities, and 
above all to the city of New York, for his intelligent pro- 
tection of every good measure, and his unflinching oppo- 
sition to every one of the many doubtful projects con- 
stantly brought in by schemers and dreamers. 



SENATORSHIP AT ALBANY -1864-1867 103 

Still another senator was James M. Cook of Saratoga. 
He bad been comptroller of the State and, at various 
times, a member of the legislature. He was the faithful 
"watch-dog of the treasury,"— bitter against every 
scheme for taking public money for any unworthy pur- 
pose, and, indeed, against any scheme whatever which 
could not assign for its existence a reason, clear, cogent, 
and honest. 

Still another member, greatly respected, was Judge 
Bailey of Oneida County. His experience upon the bench 
made him especially valuable upon the judiciary and 
other committees. 

Yet another man of mark in the body was one of the 
younger men, George G. Munger of Rochester. He had 
preceded me by a few years at Yale, had won respect 
as a county judge, and had a certain lucid way of pre- 
senting public matters which made him a valuable public 
servant. 

Another senator of great value was Henry R. Low. 
He, too, had been a county judge and brought not only 
legal but financial knowledge to the aid of his colleagues. 
He was what Thomas Carlyle called a "swallower of 
formulas." That a thing was old and revered mattered 
little with him: his question was what is the best thing 
now. 

From the city of New York came but one Republican, 
"William Laimbeer, a man of high character and large 
business experience; impulsive, but always for right 
against wrong; kindly in his nature, but most bitter 
against Tammany and all its works. 

From Essex County came Senator Palmer Havens, also 
of middle age, of large practical experience, with a clear, 
clean style of thinking and speaking, anxious to make a 
good record by serving well, and such a record he cer- 
tainly made. 

And, finally, among the Republican members of that 
session I may name the senator from Oswego, Mr. Cheney 
Ames. Perhaps no one in the body had so large a prac- 



104 POLITICAL LIFE -IV 

tical knowledge of the commercial interests of the State, 
and especially of the traffic upon its lakes and inland 
waterways; on all questions relating to these his advice 
was of the greatest value; he was in every respect a 
good public servant. 

On the Democratic side the foremost man by far was 
Henry C. Murphy of Brooklyn, evidently of Irish ances- 
try, though his immediate forefathers had been long in 
the United States. He was a graduate of Columbia Col- 
lege, devoted to history and literature, had produced sun- 
dry interesting books on the early annals of the State, 
had served with distinction in the diplomatic service as 
minister to The Hague, was eminent as a lawyer, and 
had already considerable legislative experience. 

From New York City came a long series of Democratic 
members, of whom the foremost was Thomas C. Fields. 
He had considerable experience as a lawyer in the city 
courts, had served in the lower house of the legislature, 
and was preternaturally acute in detecting the interests 
of Tammany which he served. He was a man of much 
humor, with occasional flashes of wit, his own worst 
enemy, evidently, and his career was fitly ended when 
upon the fall of Tweed he left his country for his coun- 
try's good and died in exile. 

There were others on both sides whom I could mention 
as good men and true, but those I have named took a 
leading part as heads of committees and in carrying on 
public business. 

The lieutenant-governor of the State who presided over 
the Senate was Mr. Floyd-Jones, a devoted Democrat of 
the old school who exemplified its best qualities; a gen- 
tleman, honest, courteous, not intruding his own views, 
ready always to give the fullest weight to those of others 
without regard to party. 

Among the men who, from their constant attendance, 
might almost be considered as officers of the Senate were 
sundry representatives of leading newspapers. Several 
of them were men of marked ability, and well known 



SENATORSHIP AT ALBANY— 18G4-18G7 105 

throughout the State, but they have long since been for- 
gotten with one exception : this was a quiet reporter who 
sat just in front of the clerk's chair, day after day, week 
after week, throughout the entire session; a man of very 
few words, and with whom I had but the smallest ac- 
quaintance. Greatly surprised was I in after years when 
he rose to be editor of the leading Democratic organ 
in the State, and finally, under President Cleveland, a 
valuable Secretary of the Treasury of the United States : 
Daniel Manning. 

In the distribution of committees there fell to me the 
chairmanship of the committee on education, or, as it 
was then called, the committee on literature. I was also 
made a member of the committee on cities and villages, 
afterward known as the committee on municipal affairs, 
and of the committee on the library. For the first of 
these positions I was somewhat fitted by my knowledge 
of the colleges and universities of the State, but in other 
respects was poorly fitted. For the second of these po- 
sitions, that of the committee on cities and villages, I am 
free to confess that no one could be more wretchedly 
equipped ; for the third, the committee on the library, my 
qualifications were those of a man who loved both to col- 
lect books and to read them. 

But from the beginning I labored hard to fit myself, 
even at that late hour, for the duties pressing upon me, 
and gradually my practical knowledge was increased. 
Still there were sad gaps in it, and more than once I sat 
in the committee-room, looking exceedingly wise, no 
doubt, but with an entirely inadequate appreciation of 
the argument made before me. 

During this first session my maiden speech was upon 
the governor's message, and I did my best to show what 
I thought His Excellency's shortcomings. Governor Sey- 
mour was a patriotic man, after his fashion, but the one 
agency which he regarded as divinely inspired was the 
Democratic party; his hatred of the Lincoln Adminis- 
tration was evidently deep, and it was also clear that he 



106 POLITICAL LIFE-IV 

did not believe that the war for the Union could be brought 
to a successful termination. 

With others I did my best against him ; but while con- 
demning his political course as severely as was possible 
to me, I never attacked his personal character or his mo- 
tives. The consequence was that, while politically we 
were enemies, personally a sort of friendship remained, 
and I recall few things with more pleasure than my jour- 
neyings from Albany up the Mohawk Valley, sitting at 
his side, he giving accounts to me of the regions through 
which we passed, and the history connected with them, 
regarding which he was wonderfully well informed. If 
he hated New England as the breeding bed of radicalism, 
he loved New York passionately. 

The first important duty imposed upon me as chair- 
man of the committee on education was when there came 
up a bill for disposing of the proceeds of public lands 
appropriated by the government of the United States 
to institutions for scientific and technical education, under 
what was then known as the Morrill Act of 1862. Of 
these lands the share which had come to New York was 
close upon a million acres— a fair-sized European prin- 
cipality. Here, owing to circumstances which I shall de- 
tail in another chapter, I found myself in a contest with 
Mr. Cornell. I favored holding the fund together, let- 
ting it remain with the so-called "People's College," to 
which it had been already voted, and insisted that the 
matter was one to be referred to the committee on edu- 
cation. Mr. Cornell, on the other hand, favored the divi- 
sion of the fund, and proposed a bill giving one half of 
it to the "State Agricultural College" recently estab- 
lished at Ovid on Seneca Lake. The end was that the 
matter was referred to a joint committee composed of 
the committees on literature and agriculture, that is, to 
Mr. Cornell's committee and my own, and as a result no 
meeting to consider the bill was held during that session. 
Gradually I accumulated a reasonable knowledge of 
the educational interests intrusted to us, but ere long 



SENATORSHIP AT ALBANY-1864-1867 107 

there came in from the superintendent of public instruc- 
tion, Mr. Victor Rice, a plan for codifying the edu- 
cational laws of the State. This necessitated a world of 
labor on my part. Section by section, paragraph by 
paragraph, phrase by phrase, I had to go through it, and 
night after night was devoted to studying every part 
of it in the light of previous legislation, the laws of other 
States, and such information as could be obtained from 
general sources. At last, after much alteration and re- 
vision, I brought forward the bill, secured its passage, 
and I may say that it was not without a useful influence 
upon the great educational interests of the State. 

I now brought forward another educational bill. Va- 
rious persons interested in the subject appeared urging 
the creation of additional State normal schools, in order 
to strengthen and properly develop the whole State 
school system. At that time there was but one ; that one at 
Albany; and thus our great Commonwealth was in this 
respect far behind many of her sister States. The whole 
system was evidently suffering from the want of teachers 
thoroughly and practically equipped. Out of the multi- 
tude of projects presented, I combined what I thought 
the best parts of three or four in a single bill, and al- 
though at first there were loud exclamations against so 
lavish a use of public money, I induced the committee 
to report my bill, argued it in the Senate, overcame much 
opposition, and thus finally secured a law establishing 
four State normal schools. 

Still another duty imposed upon me necessitated much 
work for which almost any other man in the Senate would 
have been better equipped by experience and knowledge 
of State affairs. The condition of things in the city of 
New York had become unbearable; the sway of Tam- 
many Hall had gradually brought out elements of oppo- 
sition such as before that time had not existed. Tweed 
was already making himself felt, though he had not yet 
assumed the complete control which he exercised after- 
ward. The city system was bad throughout; but at the 



108 POLITICAL LIFE-IV 

very center of evil stood what was dignified by the name 
of the " Health Department." At the head of this was a 
certain Boole, who, having gained the title of "city in- 
spector," had the virtual appointment of a whole army 
of so-called "health inspectors," "health officers," and 
the like, charged with the duty of protecting the public 
from the inroads of disease; and never was there a 
greater outrage against a city than the existence of this 
body of men, absolutely unfit both as regarded character 
and education for the duties they pretended to discharge. 

Against this state of things there had been developed 
a "citizens' committee," representing the better elements 
of both parties,— its main representatives being Judge 
Whiting and Mr. Dorman B. Eaton,— and the evidence 
these gentlemen exhibited before the committee on muni- 
cipal affairs, at Albany, as to the wretched condition of 
the city health boards was damning. Whole districts in 
the most crowded wards were in the worst possible sani- 
tary condition. There was probably at that time nothing 
to approach it in any city in Christendom save, possibly, 
Naples. Great blocks of tenement houses were owned by 
men who kept low drinking bars in them, each of whom, 
having secured from Boole the position of "health 
officer," steadily resisted all sanitary improvement or 
even inspection. Many of these tenement houses were 
known as "fever nests"; through many of them small- 
pox frequently raged, and from them it was constantly 
communicated to other parts of the city. 

Therefore it was that one morning Mr. Laimbeer, the 
only Republican member from the city, rose, made an 
impassioned speech on this condition of things, moved a 
committee to examine and report, and named as its mem- 
bers Judge Munger, myself, and the Democratic senator 
from the Buffalo district, Mr. Humphrey. 

As a result, a considerable part of my second winter 
as senator was devoted to the work of this special com- 
mittee in the city of New York. We held a sort of court, 
had with us the sergeant-at-arms, were empowered to send 



SENATORSHIP AT ALBANY -1864 -1867 109 

for persons and papers, summoned large numbers of wit- 
nesses, and brought to view a state of things even worse 
than anything any of us had suspected. 

Against the citizens ' committee, headed by Judge Whit- 
ing and Mr. Eaton, Boole, aided by a most successful 
Tammany lawyer of the old sort, John Graham, fought 
with desperation. In order to disarm his assailants as 
far as possible, he brought before the committee a num- 
ber of his "health officers" and "sanitary inspectors," 
whom he evidently thought best qualified to pass muster ; 
but as one after another was examined and cross-exam- 
ined, neither the cunning of Boole nor the skill of Mr. 
Graham could prevent the revelation of their utter unfit- 
ness. In the testimony of one of them the whole mon- 
strous absurdity culminated. Judge Whiting examining 
him before the commission with reference to a case of 
small-pox which had occurred within his district, and to 
which, as health officer it was his duty to give attention, 
and asking him if he remembered the case, witness an- 
swered that he did. The following dialogue then ensued : 

Q. Did you visit this sick person? 

A. No, sir. 

Q. Why did you not? 

A. For the same reason that you would not. 

Q. What was that reason? 

A. I did n't want to catch the disease myself. 

Q. Did the family have any sort of medical aid? 

A. Yes. 

Q. From whom did they have it? 

A. From themselves; they was "highjinnicks" (hy- 
gienics). 

Q. What do you mean by "highjinnicks"? 

A. I mean persons who doctor themselves. 

After other answers of a similar sort the witness de- 
parted ; but for some days afterward Judge Whiting edi- 
fied the court, in his examination of Boole's health offi- 
cers and inspectors, by finally asking each one whether 
he had any "highjinnicks" in his health district. Some 



110 POLITICAL LIFE— IV 

answered that they had them somewhat; some thought 
that they had them "pretty bad," others thought that 
there was "not much of it," others claimed that they 
were "quite serious"; and, finally, in the examination of 
a certain health officer who was very anxious to show that 
he had done his best, there occurred the following dia- 
logue which brought down the house : 

Q. (By Judge Whiting.) Mr. Health Officer, have you 
had any "highjinnicks" in your district? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. Much? 

A. Yes, sir, quite a good deal. 

Q. Have you done anything in regard to them? 

A. Yes, sir ; I have done all that I could. 

Q. Witness, now, on your oath, do you know what the 
word "highjinnicks" means? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. What does it mean? 

A. It means the bad smells that arise from standing 
water. 

At this the court was dissolved in laughter, but Mr. 
Graham made the best that he could of it by the following 
questions and answers: 

Q. Witness, have you ever learned Greek? 

A. No, sir. 

Q. Can you speak Greek? 

A. No, sir. 

Q. Do you understand Greek? 

A. No, sir. 

' ' Then you may stand down. ' ' 

The examination was long and complicated, so that 
with various departments to be examined there was no 
time to make a report before the close of the session, and 
the whole matter had to go over until the newly elected 
senate came into office the following year. 

Shortly after the legislature had adjourned I visited 
the city of New York, and on arriving took up the evening 
paper which, more than any other, has always been sup- 



SENATORSHIP AT ALBANY-18G4-18G7 111 

posed to represent the best sentiment of the city;— the 
"New York Evening Post." The first article on which my 
eve fell was entitled "The New York Senate Trifling," 
and the article went on to say that the Senate of the 
State had wasted its time, had practically done nothing 
for the city, had neglected its interests, had paid no 
attention to its demands, and the like. That struck me 
as ungrateful, for during the whole session we had 
worked early and late on questions relating to the city, 
had thwarted scores of evil schemes, and in some cases, 
I fear, had sacrificed the interests of the State at large 
to those of the city. Thus there dawned on me a know- 
ledge of the reward which faithful legislators are likely 
to obtain. 

Another of these city questions also showed the sort 
of work to be done in this thankless protection of the 
metropolis. During one of the sessions there had ap- 
peared in the lobby an excellent man, Dr. Levi Silliman 
Ives, formerly Protestant Episcopal Bishop of North 
Carolina, who, having been converted to Roman Catholi- 
cism, had become a layman and head of a protec- 
tory for Catholic children. With him came a number of 
others of his way of thinking, and a most determined 
effort was made to pass a bill sanctioning a gift of one 
half of the great property known as Ward's Island, ad- 
jacent to the city of New York, to this Roman Catholic 
institution. 

I had strong sympathy with the men who carried on 
the protectory, and was quite willing to go as far as 
possible in aiding them, but was opposed to voting such 
a vast landed property belonging to the city into the 
hands of any church, and I fought the bill at all stages. 
In committee of the whole, and at first reading, priestly 
influence led a majority to vote for it, but at last, despite 
all the efforts of Tammany Hall, it was defeated. 

It was during this first period of my service that the 
last and most earnest effort of the State was made for 
the war. Various circumstances had caused discourage- 



112 POLITICAL LIFE -IV 

ment. It had become difficult to raise troops, yet it was 
most important to avoid a draft. In the city of New 
York, at the prospect of an enforced levy of troops, 
there had been serious uprisings which were only sup- 
pressed after a considerable loss of life. It was neces- 
sary to make one supreme effort, and the Republican 
members of the legislature decided to raise a loan of 
several millions for bounties to those who should volun- 
teer. This decision was not arrived at without much 
opposition, and, strange to say, its most serious oppo- 
nent was Horace Greeley, who came to Albany in the 
hope of defeating it. Invaluable as his services had been 
during the struggle which preceded the war, it must be 
confessed, even by his most devoted friends, that during 
the war he was not unfrequently a stumbling block. His 
cry "on to Richmond" during the first part of the strug- 
gle, his fearful alarm when, like the heroes in the "Big- 
low Papers," he really discovered "why bayonets is 
peaked," his terror as the conflict deepened, his propo- 
sals for special peace negotiations later— all these things 
were among the serious obstacles which President Lin- 
coln had to encounter; and now, fearing burdens which, 
in his opinion, could not and would not be borne by the 
State, and conjuring up specters of trouble, he came to 
Albany and earnestly advised members of the legislature 
against the passage of the bounty bill. Fortunately, 
common sense triumphed, and the bill was passed. 

Opposition came also from another and far different 
source. There was then in the State Senate a Democrat 
of the oldest and strongest type; a man who believed 
most devoutly in Jefferson and Jackson, and abhorred 
above all things, abolitionists and protectionists,— Dr. 
Allaben of Schoharie. A more thoroughly honest man 
never lived; he was steadily on the side of good legisla- 
tion; but in the midst of the discussion regarding this 
great loan for bounties he arose and began a speech 
which, as he spoke but rarely, received general attention. 
He was deeply in earnest. -He said (in substance), "I 



SENATORSHIP AT ALBANY-18G4-18G7 113 

shall vote for this loan; for of various fearful evils it 
seems the least. But I wish, here and now, and with the 
deepest sorrow, to record a prediction : I ask you to note 
it and to remember it, for it will be fulfilled, and speedily. 
This State debt which you are now incurring will never 
be paid. It cannot be paid. More than that, none of the 
vast debts incurred for military purposes, whether by 
the Nation or by the States, will be paid ; the people will 
surely repudiate them. Nor is this all. Not one dollar 
of all the treasury notes issued by the United States will 
ever be redeemed. Your paper currency has already de- 
preciated much and will depreciate more and more; all 
bonds and notes, State and National, issued to continue 
this fratricidal war will be whirled into the common vor- 
tex of repudiation. I say this with the deepest pain, for 
I love my country, but I cannot be blind to the teachings 
of history." He then went on to cite the depreciation 
of our revolutionary currency, and, at great length pic- 
tured the repudiation of the assignats during the French 
Revolution. He had evidently read Alison and Thiers 
carefully, and he spoke like an inspired prophet. 

As Senator Allaben thus spoke, Senator Fields of New 
York quietly left his seat and came to me. He was a 
most devoted servant of Tammany, but was what was 
known in those days as a War Democrat. His native 
pugnacity caused him to feel that the struggle must be 
fought out, whereas Democrats of a more philosophic 
sort, like Allaben, known in those days as "Copper- 
heads, ' ' sought peace at any price. Therefore it was that, 
while Senator Allaben was pouring out with the deepest 
earnestness these prophecies of repudiation, Mr. Fields 
came round to my desk and said to me : " You have been 
a professor of history ; you are supposed to know some- 
thing about the French Revolution; if your knowledge 
is good for anything, why in h— 1 don't you use it now?" 

This exhortation was hardly necessary, and at the close 
of Senator Allaben 's remarks I arose and presented an- 
other view of the case. It happened by a curious coin- 

I.-8 



1U POLITICAL LIFE-IV 

cidence that, having made a few years before a very care- 
ful study of the issues of paper money during the French 
Eevolution, I had a portion of my very large collection 
of assignats, mandats, and other revolutionary currency 
in Albany, having brought it there in order to show 
it to one or two of my friends who had expressed an 
interest in the subject. 

Holding this illustrative material in reserve I showed 
the whole amount of our American paper currency in cir- 
culation to be about eight hundred million dollars, of 
which only about one half was of the sort to which the 
senator referred. I then pointed to the fact that, although 
the purchasing power of the French franc at the time of 
the Revolution was fully equal to the purchasing power 
of the American dollar of our own time, the French rev- 
olutionary government issued, in a few months, forty- 
five thousand millions of francs in paper money, and had 
twenty-five thousand millions of it in circulation at the 
time when the great depression referred to by Dr. Allaben 
had taken place. 

I also pointed out the fact that our American notes were 
now so thoroughly well engraved that counterfeiting was 
virtually impossible, so that one of the leading European 
governments had its notes engraved in New York, on this 
account, whereas, the French assignats could be easily 
counterfeited, and, as a matter of fact, were counterfeited 
in vast numbers, the British government pouring them 
into France through the agency of the French royalists, 
especially in Brittany, almost by shiploads, and to such 
purpose, that the French government officials themselves 
were at last unable to discriminate between the genuine 
money and the counterfeit. I also pointed out the con- 
nection of our national banking system with our issues 
of bonds and paper, one of the happiest and most states- 
manlike systems ever devised, whereas, in France there 
was practically no redemption for the notes, save as they 
could be used for purchasing from the government the 



SENATORSHIP AT ALBANY— 1864 -1867 115 

doubtful titles to the confiscated houses and lands of the 
clergy and aristocracy. 

The speech of Senator Allaben had exercised a real 
effect, but these simple statements, which I supported by 
evidence, and especially by exhibiting specimens of the 
assignats bearing numbers showing that the issues had 
risen into the thousands of millions, and in a style of en- 
graving most easily counterfeited, sufficed to convince the 
Senate that no such inference as was drawn by the sena- 
tor was warranted by the historical facts in the case. 

A vote was taken, the bill was passed, the troops were 
finally raised, and the debt was extinguished not many 
years afterward. 

It is a pleasure for me to remember that at the close 
of my remarks, which I took pains to make entirely cour- 
teous to Dr. Allaben, he came to me, and strongly op- 
posed as we were in politics, he grasped me by the hand 
most heartily, expressed his amazement at seeing these 
assignats, mandats, and other forms of French revolu- 
tionary issues, of which he had never before seen one, 
and thanked me for refuting his arguments. It is one of 
the very few cases I have ever known, in which a speech 
converted an opponent. 

Perhaps a word more upon this subject may not be 
without interest. My attention had been drawn to the 
issues of paper money during the French Revolution, by 
my studies of that period for my lectures on modern 
history at the University of Michigan, about five years 
before. In taking up this special subject I had supposed 
that a few days would be sufficient for all the study 
needed ; but I became more and more interested in it, ob- 
tained a large mass of documents from France, and then 
and afterward accumulated by far the largest collection of 
French paper money, of all the different issues, sorts, 
and amounts, as well as of collateral newspaper reports 
and financial documents, ever brought into our country. 
The study of the subject for my class, which I had hoped 



116 POLITICAL LIFE -IV 

to confine to a few days, thus came to absorb my leisure 
for months, and I remember that, at last, when I had 
given my lecture on the subject to my class at the univer- 
sity, a feeling of deep regret, almost of remorse, came 
over me, as I thought how much valuable time I had given 
to a subject that, after all, had no bearing on any pres- 
ent problem, which would certainly be forgotten by the 
majority of my hearers, and probably by myself. 

These studies were made mainly in 1859. Then the 
lectures were laid aside, and though, from time to time, 
when visiting France, I kept on collecting illustrative ma- 
terials, no further use was made of them until this debate 
during the session of the State Senate of 1864. 

Out of this offhand speech upon the assignats grew a 
paper which, some time afterward, I presented in Wash- 
ington before a number of members of the Senate and 
House, at the request of General Garfield, who was then 
a representative, and of his colleague, Mr. Chittenden of 
Brooklyn. In my audience were some of the foremost 
men of both houses, and among them such as Senators 
Bayard, Stevenson, Morrill, Conkling, Edmunds, Gib- 
son, and others. This speech, which was the result of 
my earlier studies, improved by material acquired later, 
and most carefully restudied and verified, I repeated be- 
fore a large meeting of the Union League Club at New 
York, Senator Hamilton Fish presiding. The paper thus 
continued to grow and, having been published in New 
York by Messrs. Appleton, a cheap edition of it was cir- 
culated some years afterward, largely under the auspices 
of General Garfield, to act as an antidote to the "Green- 
back Craze" then raging through Ohio and the Western 
States. 

Finally, having been again restudied, in the light of my 
ever-increasing material, it was again reprinted and cir- 
culated as a campaign document during the struggle 
against Mr. Bryan and the devotees of the silver stan- 
dard in the campaign of 1896, copies of it being spread 
very widely, especially through the West, and placed, 



SENATORSHIP AT ALBANY— 1864-1867 117 

above all, in nearly every public library, university, col- 
lege, and normal school in the Union. 

I allude to this as showing to any young student who 
may happen to read these recollections, the value of a care- 
ful study of any really worthy subject, even though, at 
first sight, it may seem to have little relation to present 
affairs. 

In the spring of 1864, at the close of my first year in 
the State Senate, came the national convention at Balti- 
more for the nomination of President and Vice-President, 
and to that convention I went as a substitute delegate. Al- 
though I have attended several similar assemblages since, 
no other has ever seemed to me so interesting. It met in 
an old theater, on one of the noisiest corners in the city, 
and, as it was June, and the weather already very warm, 
it was necessary, in order to have as much air as possible, 
to remove curtains and scenery from the stage and throw 
the back of the theater open to the street. The result 
was, indeed, a circulation of air, but, with this, a noise 
from without which confused everything within. 

In selecting a president for the convention a new de- 
parture was made, for the man chosen was a clergyman; 
one of the most eminent divines in the Union,— the Rev. 
Dr. Robert Breckinridge of Kentucky, who, on the re- 
ligious side, had been distinguished as moderator of the 
Presbyterian General Assembly, and on the political side 
was revered for the reason that while very nearly all his 
family, and especially his sons and nephews, including 
the recent Vice-President, had plunged into the Confed- 
erate service, he still remained a staunch and sturdy ad- 
herent of the Union and took his stand with the Repub- 
lican party. He was a grand old man, but hardly suited 
to the presidency of a political assemblage. 

The proceedings were opened with a prayer by a dele- 
gate, who had been a colonel in the Union army, and was 
now a Methodist clergyman. The heads of all were 
bowed, and the clergyman-soldier began with the words of 
the Lord's Prayer; but when he had recited about one half 



118 POLITICAL LIFE-IV 

of it he seemed to think that he could better it, and he 
therefore substituted for the latter half a petition which 
began with these words : ' ' Grant, Lord, that the ticket 
here to be nominated may command a majority of the 
suffrages of the American people." To those accustomed 
to the more usual ways of conducting service this was 
something of a shock; still there was this to be said in 
favor of the reverend colonel's amendment,— he had faith 
to ask for what he wanted. 

This opening prayer being ended, there came a display 
of parliamentary tactics by leaders from all parts of the 
Union: one after another rose in this or that part of the 
great assemblage to move this or that resolution, and the 
confusion which soon prevailed was fearful, the noise of 
the street being steadily mingled with the tumult of the 
house. But good Dr. Breckinridge did his best, and 
in each case put the motion he had happened to hear. 
Thereupon each little group, supposing that the resolu- 
tion which had been carried was the one it had happened 
to hear, moved additional resolutions based upon it. 
These various resolutions were amended in all sorts of 
ways, in all parts of the house, the good doctor putting 
the resolutions and amendments which happened to reach 
his ear, and declaring them "carried" or "lost," as the 
case might be. Thereupon ensued additional resolutions 
and amendments based upon those which their movers 
supposed to have been passed, with the result that, in 
about twenty minutes no one in the convention, and least 
of all its president, knew what we had done or what we 
ought to do. Each part of the house firmly believed that 
the resolutions which it had heard were those which had 
been carried, and the clash and confusion between them all 
seemed hopeless. 

Various eminent parliamentarians from different parts 
of the Union arose to extricate the convention from this 
welter, but generally, when they resumed their seats, left 
the matter more muddled than when they arose. 

A very near approach to success was made by my dear 



SENATORSHIP AT ALBANY-1864-1867 119 

friend George William Curtis of New York, who, in ad- 
mirable temper, and clear voice, unraveled the tangle, 
as he understood it, and seemed just about to start the 
convention fairly on its way, when some marplot arose 
to suggest that some minor point in Mr. Curtis 's exposi- 
tion was not correct, thus calling out a tumult of con- 
flicting statements, the result of which was yet greater 
confusion, so that we seemed fated to adjourn pell-mell 
into the street and be summoned a second time into 
the hall, in order to begin the whole proceedings over 
again. 

But just at this moment arose Henry J. Raymond, edi- 
tor of the ' ' New York Times. ' ' His parliamentary train- 
ing had been derived not only from his service as lieu- 
tenant-governor of the State, but from attendance on a 
long series of conventions, State and National. He had 
waited for his opportunity, and when there came a lull 
of despair, he arose and, in a clear, strong, pleasant voice, 
made an alleged explanation of the situation. As a piece 
of parliamentary tactics, it was masterly though from 
another point of view it was comical. The fact was that 
he developed a series of motions and amendments:— a 
whole line of proceedings,— mainly out of his own interior 
consciousness. He began somewhat on this wise: "Mr. 
President: The eminent senator from Vermont moved 
a resolution to such an effect; this was amended as fol- 
lows, by my distinguished friend from Ohio, and was 
passed as amended. Thereupon the distinguished senator 
from Iowa arose and made the following motion, which, 
with an amendment from the learned gentleman from 
Massachusetts, was passed; thereupon a resolution was 
moved by the honorable gentleman from Pennsylvania, 
which was declared by the chair to be carried; and now, 
sir, I submit the following motion," and he immediately 
followed these words by moving a procedure to business 
and the appointment of committees. Sundry marplots, 
such as afflict all public bodies did, indeed, start to their 
feet, but a universal cry of "question" drowned all their 



120 POLITICAL LIFE-IV 

efforts, and Mr. Raymond's motion was carried, to all 
appearance unanimously. 

Never was anything of the kind more effectual. 
Though most, if not all, the proceedings thus stated by 
Mr. Raymond were fictions of his own imagination, 
they served the purpose; his own resolution started the 
whole machinery and set the convention prosperously on 
its way. 

The general opinion of the delegates clearly favored 
the renomination of Mr. Lincoln. It was an exhibition 
not only of American common sense, but of sentiment. 
The American people and the public bodies which repre- 
sent them are indeed practical and materialistic to the 
last degree, but' those gravely err who ignore a very dif- 
ferent side of their character. No people and no public 
bodies are more capable of yielding to deep feeling. So 
it was now proven. It was felt that not to renominate 
Mr. Lincoln would be a sort of concession to the enemy. 
He had gained the confidence and indeed the love of 
the entire Republican party. There was a strong con- 
viction that, having suffered so much during the ter- 
rible stress and strain of the war, he ought to be retained 
as President after the glorious triumph of the Nation 
which was felt to be approaching. 

But in regard to the second place there was a different 
feeling. The Vice-President who had served with Mr. 
Lincoln during his first term, Mr. Hamlin of Maine, was 
a steadfast, staunch, and most worthy man, but it was 
felt that the loyal element in the border States ought 
to be recognized, and, therefore it was that, for the Vice- 
Presidency was named a man who had begun life in the 
lowest station, who had hardly learned to read until he 
had become of age, who had always shown in Congress 
the most bitter hatred of the slave barons of the South, 
whom he considered as a caste above his own, but who 
had distinguished himself, as a man, by high civic courage, 
and as a senator by his determined speeches in behalf of 
the Union. This was Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, a 



SENATORSHIP AT ALBANY -1864 -1867 121 

man honest, patriotic, but narrow and crabbed, who 
turned out to be the most unfortunate choice ever made, 
with the possible exception of John Tyler, twenty-four 
years before. 

The convention having adjourned, a large number of 
delegates visited Washington, to pay their respects to the 
President, and among them myself. The city seemed 
to me hardly less repulsive than at my first visit eight 
years before; it was still unkempt and dirty,— made in- 
deed all the more so by the soldiery encamped about it, 
and marching through it. 

Shortly after our arrival our party, perhaps thirty in 
number, went to the White House and were shown into 
the great East Room. We had been there for about ten 
minutes when one of the doors nearest the street was 
opened, and a young man entered who held the door 
open for the admission of a tall, ungainly man dressed 
in a rather dusty suit of black. My first impression was 
that this was some rural tourist who had blundered into the 
place ; for, really, he seemed less at home there than any 
other person present, and looked about for an instant, as 
if in doubt where he should go ; but presently he turned 
toward our group, which was near the southwestern cor- 
ner of the room, and then I saw that it was the President. 
As he came toward us in a sort of awkward, perfunctory 
manner his face seemed to me one of the saddest I had 
ever seen, and when he had reached us he held out his 
hand to the first stranger, then to the second, and so on, 
all with the air of a melancholy automaton. But, sud- 
denly, some one in the company said something which 
amused him, and instantly there came in his face a most 
marvelous transformation. I have never seen anything 
like it in any other human being. His features were 
lighted, his eyes radiant, he responded to sundry remarks 
humorously, though dryly, and thenceforward was cor- 
dial and hearty. Taking my hand in his he shook it in the 
most friendly way, with a kindly word, and so passed 
cheerily on to the others until the ceremony was finished. 



122 POLITICAL LIFE-IV 

Years afterward, noticing in the rooms of his son, Mr. 
Eobert Lincoln, our minister at London, a portrait of 
his father, and seeing that it had the same melancholy 
look noticeable in all President Lincoln's portraits, I 
alluded to this change in his father's features, and asked 
if any artist had ever caught the happier expression. 
Mr. Robert Lincoln answered that, so far as he knew, no 
portrait of his father in this better mood had ever been 
taken; that when any attempt was made to photograph 
him or paint his portrait, he relapsed into his melancholy 
mood, and that this is what has been transmitted to us by 
all who have ever attempted to give us his likeness. 

In the campaign which followed this visit to Washing- 
ton I tried to do my duty in speaking through my own 
and adjacent districts, but there was little need of 
speeches; the American people had made up their minds, 
and they reelected Mr. Lincoln triumphantly. 



CHAPTER VII 

SENATOESHIP AT ALBANY— 1864-1867 

DURING my second year in the State Senate, 1865, 
came the struggle for the charter of Cornell Uni- 
versity; the details of which will be given in another 
chapter. 

Two things during this session are forever stamped into 
my memory. The first was the news of Lee's surrender 
on April 9, 1865: though it had been daily expected, it 
came as a vast relief. 

It was succeeded by a great sorrow. On the morning 
of April 15, 1865, coming down from my rooms in the 
Delavan House at Albany, I met on the stairway a very 
dear old friend, the late Charles Sedgwick, of Syracuse, 
one of the earliest and most devoted of Republicans, who 
had served with distinction in the House of Representa- 
tives, and had more than once been widely spoken of 
for the United States Senate. Coming toward me with 
tears in his eyes and voice, hardly able to speak, he 
grasped me by the hand and gasped the words, ''Lincoln 
is murdered. ' ' I could hardly believe myself awake : the 
thing seemed impossible;— too wicked, too monstrous, too 
cruel to be true ; but alas ! confirmation of the news came 
speedily and the Presidency was in the hands of Andrew 
Johnson. 

Shortly afterward the body of the murdered President, 
borne homeward to Illinois, rested overnight in the State 
Capitol, and preparations were made for its reception. I 
was one of the bearers chosen by the Senate and was also 

123 



124 POLITICAL LIFE-V 

elected to pronounce one of the orations. Rarely have I 
felt an occasion so deeply : it has been my lot during my 
life to be present at the funerals of various great rulers 
and magnates; but at none of these was so deep an im- 
pression made upon me as by the body of Lincoln lying 
in the assembly chamber at Albany, quiet and peaceful at 
last. 

Of the speeches made in the Senate on the occasion, 
mine being the only one which was not read or given from 
memory, attracted some attention, and I was asked es- 
pecially for the source of a quotation which occurred in 
it, and which was afterward dwelt upon by some of my 
hearers. It was the result of a sudden remembrance of the 
lines in Milton's "Samson Agonistes," beginning: 

" Oh, how comely it is, and how reviving 
To the spirits of just men long oppressed, 
When God into the hands of their deliverer 
Puts invincible might 

To quell the mighty of the earth, the oppressor, 
The brute and boisterous force of violent men," etc. 1 

The funeral was conducted with dignity and solemnity. 
When the coffin was opened and we were allowed to take 
one last look at Lincoln 's face, it impressed me as having 
the same melancholy expression which I had seen upon it 
when he entered the East Room at the White House. In 
its quiet sadness there seemed to have been no change. 
There was no pomp in the surroundings ; all, though dig- 
nified, was simple. Very different was it from the show 
and ceremonial at the funeral of the Emperor Nicholas 
which I had attended ten years before ;— but it was even 
more impressive. At the head of the coffin stood General 
Dix, who had served so honorably in the War of 1812, in 
the Senate of the United States, in the Civil War, and who 
was afterward to serve with no less fidelity as governor 
of the State. Nothing could be more fitting than such a 
chieftaincy in the guard of honor. 

1 Milton's "Samson Agonistes," lines 1268-1280. 



SENATORSHIP AT ALBANY- 1864-1867 125 

In the following autumn the question of my renomina- 
tion came. 

It had been my fortune to gain, first of all, the ill will 
of Tammany Hall, and the arms of Tammany were long. 
Its power was exercised strongly through its henchmen 
not only in the Democratic party throughout the State, 
but especially in the Republican party, and, above all, 
among sundry contractors of the Erie Canal, many of 
whose bills I had opposed, and it was understood that 
they and their friends were determined to defeat me. 

Moreover, it was thought by some that I had mortally 
offended sundry Catholic priests by opposing their plan 
for acquiring Ward's Island, and that I had offended 
various Protestant bodies, especially the Methodists, by 
defeating their efforts to divide up the Land Grant 
Fund between some twenty petty sectarian colleges, and 
by exerting myself to secure it for Cornell University, 
which, because it was unsectarian, many called ' ' godless. ' ' 

Though I made speeches through the district as for- 
merly, I asked no pledges of any person, but when the nom- 
inating convention assembled I was renominated in spite 
of all opposition, and triumphantly :— a gifted and hon- 
orable man, the late David J. Mitchell, throwing him- 
self heartily into the matter, and in an eloquent speech 
absolutely silencing the whole Tammany and canal com- 
bination. He was the most successful lawyer in the 
district before juries, and never did his best quali- 
ties show themselves more fully than on this occasion. 
My majority on the first ballot was overwhelming, the 
nomination was immediately made unanimous, and at the 
election I had the full vote. 

Arriving in Albany at the beginning of my third year 
of service— 1866— I found myself the only member of the 
committee appointed to investigate matters in the city of 
New York who had been reelected. Under these circum- 
stances no report from the committee was possible; but 
the committee on municipal affairs, having brought in a 
bill to legislate out of office the city inspector and all his 



126 POLITICAL LIFE-V 

associates, and to put in a new and thoroughly qualified 
health board, I made a carefully prepared speech, which 
took the character of a report. The facts which I 
brought out were sufficient to condemn the whole existing 
system twenty times over. By testimony taken under oath 
the monstrosities of the existing system were fully re- 
vealed, as well as the wretched character of the "health 
officers, " " inspectors, ' ' and the whole army of underlings, 
and I exhibited statistics carefully ascertained and tabu- 
lated, showing the absurd disproportion of various classes 
of officials to each other, their appointment being made, 
not to preserve the public health, but to carry the ward 
caucuses and elections. During this exposure Boole, the 
head of the whole system, stood not far from me on the 
floor, his eyes fastened upon me, with an expression in 
which there seemed to mingle fear, hatred, and something 
else which I could hardly divine. His face seemed to me, 
even then, the face of a madman. So it turned out. The 
new bill drove him out of office, and, in a short time, into 
a madhouse. 

I have always thought upon the fate of this man with a 
sort of sadness. Doubtless in his private relations he 
had good qualities, but to no public service that I have 
ever been able to render can I look back with a stronger 
feeling that my work was good. It unquestionably re- 
sulted in saving the lives of hundreds, nay thousands, of 
men, women, and children ; and yet it is a simple fact that 
had I, at any time within a year or two afterward, visited 
those parts of the city of New York which I had thus 
benefited, and been recognized by the dwellers in the tene- 
ment houses as the man who had opposed their dramshop- 
keepers and brought in a new health board, those very 
people whose lives and the lives of whose children I had 
thus saved would have mobbed me, and, if possible, would 
have murdered me. 

Shortly after the close of the session I was invited to 
give the Phi Beta Kappa address at the Yale commence- 
ment, and as the question of the reconstruction of the 



SENATORSHIP AT ALBANY— 1864-1807 127 

Union at the close of the war was then the most impor- 
tant subject before the country, and as it seemed to me 
best to strike while the iron was hot, my subject was 
"The Greatest Foe of Republics." The fundamental 
idea was that the greatest foe of modern states, and es- 
pecially of republics, is a political caste supported by 
rights and privileges. The treatment was mainly histori- 
cal, one of the main illustrations being drawn from the 
mistake made by Richelieu in France, who, when he had 
completely broken down such a caste, failed to destroy its 
privileges, and so left a body whose oppressions and as- 
sumptions finally brought on the French Revolution. 
Though I did not draw the inference, I presume that my 
auditors drew it easily : it was simply that now, when the 
slave power in the Union was broken down, it should not 
be allowed to retain the power which had cost the country 
so dear. 

The address was well received, and two days later there 
came to me what, under other circumstances, I would have 
most gladly accepted, the election to a professorship at 
Yale, which embraced the history of art and the direction 
of the newly founded Street School of Art. The thought 
of me for the place no doubt grew out of the fact that, 
during my stay in college, I had shown an interest in art, 
and especially in architecture, and that after my return 
from Europe I had delivered in the Yale chapel an ad- 
dress on "Cathedral Builders and Mediaeval Sculptors" 
which was widely quoted. 

It was with a pang that I turned from this offer. To all 
appearance, then and now, my life would have been far 
happier in such a professorship, but to accept it was 
clearly impossible. The manner in which it was tendered 
me seemed to me almost a greater honor than the profes- 
sorship itself. I was called upon by a committee of the 
governing body of the university, composed of the man 
whom of all in New Haven I most revered, Dr. Bacon, 
and the governor of the State, my old friend Joseph R. 
Hawley, who read to me the resolution of the governing 



128 POLITICAL LIFE-V 

body and requested my acceptance of the election. No- 
thing has ever been tendered rne which I have felt to be a 
greater honor. 

A month later, on the 28th of August, 1866, began at 
Albany what has been very rare in the history of New 
York, a special session of the State Senate:— in a sense, 
a court of impeachment. 

Its purpose was to try the county judge of Oneida for 
complicity in certain illegal proceedings regarding boun- 
ties. "Bounty jumping" had become a very serious evil, 
and it was claimed that this judicial personage had con- 
nived at it. 

I must confess that, as the evidence was developed, my 
feelings as a man and my duties as a sworn officer of 
the State were sadly at variance. It came out that this 
judge was endeavoring to support, on the wretched sal- 
ary of $1800 a year allowed by the county, not only 
his own family, but also the family of his brother, who, if 
I remember rightly, had lost his life during the war, and 
it seemed to me a great pity that, as a penalty upon the 
people of the county, he could not be quartered upon them 
as long as he lived. For they were the more culpable 
criminals. Belonging to one of the richest divisions of 
the State, with vast interests at stake, they had not been 
ashamed to pay a judge this contemptible pittance, and 
they deserved to have their law badly administered. This 
feeling was undoubtedly wide-spread in the Senate; but, 
on the other hand, there was the duty we were sworn to 
perform, and the result was that the judge was removed 
from office. 

During this special session of the State Senate it was 
entangled in a curious episode of national history. The 
new President, Mr. Andrew Johnson, had been induced to 
take an excursion into the north and especially into the 
State of New York. He was accompanied by Mr. Seward, 
the Secretary of State; General Grant, with his laurels 
fresh from the Civil War; Admiral Farragut, who had 
so greatly distinguished himself during the same epoch, 



SENATORSHIP AT ALBANY -1864 -1867 129 

and others of great merit. It was clear that Secretary 
Seward thought that he could establish the popularity of 
the new administration in the State of New York by 
means of his own personal influence ; but this proved the 
greatest mistake of his life. 

On the arrival of the presidential party in New York 
City, various elements there joined in a showy reception 
to them, and all were happy. But the scene soon changed. 
From the city Mr. Seward, with the President, his 
associates, and a large body of citizens more or less dis- 
tinguished, came up the Hudson River in one of the finest 
steamers, a great banquet being given on board. But on 
approaching Albany, Mr. Seward began to discover his 
mistake ; for the testimonials of admiration and respect to- 
ward the President grew less and less hearty as the party 
moved northward. This was told me afterward by Mr. 
Thurlow Weed, Mr. Seward's lifelong friend, and prob- 
ably the most competent judge of such matters in the 
United States. At various places where the President 
was called out to speak, he showed a bitterness toward 
those who opposed his policy which more and more dis- 
pleased his audiences. One pet phrase of his soon excited 
derision. The party were taking a sort of circular tour, 
going northward by the eastern railway and steamer lines, 
turning westward at Albany, and returning by western 
lines ; hence the President, in one of his earlier speeches, 
alluded to his journey as "swinging round the circle." 
The phrase seemed to please him, and he constantly 
repeated it in his speeches, so that at last the whole matter 
was referred to by the people at large, contemptuously, as 
"swinging round the circle," reference being thereby 
made, not merely to the President's circular journey, but 
to the alleged veering of his opinions from those he pro- 
fessed when elected. 

As soon as the State Senate was informed of the prob- 
able time when the party would arrive at Albany, a reso- 
lution was introduced which welcomed in terms: "The 
President of the United States, Andrew Johnson; the 

I.-9 



130 POLITICAL LIFE-V 

Secretary of State, William H. Seward; the General of 
the Army, Ulysses S. Grant ; and the Admiral of the Navy, 
David G. Farragut. ' ' The feeling against President John- 
son and his principal adviser, Mr. Seward, on account of 
the break which had taken place between them and the 
majority of the Republican party, was immediately evi- 
dent, for it was at once voiced by amending the resolution 
so that it left out all names, and merely tendered a re- 
spectful welcome, in terms, to "The President of the 
United States, the Secretary of State, the General of the 
Army, and the Admiral of the Navy. ' ' But suddenly came 
up a second amendment which was little if anything short 
of an insult to the President and Secretary. It extended 
the respectful welcome, in terms, to "The President of 
the United States ; to the Secretary of State ; to Ulysses 
S. Grant, General of the Army ; and to David G. Farragut, 
Admiral of the Navy"; thus making the first part, relat- 
ing to the President and the Secretary of State, merely 
a mark of respect for the offices they held, and the latter 
part a tribute to Grant and Farragut, not only official, 
but personal. Most earnest efforts were made to defeat 
the resolution in this form. It was pathetic to see old 
Eepublicans who had been brought up to worship Mr. 
Seward plead with their associates not to put so gross 
an insult upon a man who had rendered such services 
to the Republican party, to the State, and to the Nation. 
All in vain! In spite of all our opposition, the resolu- 
tion, as amended in this latter form, was carried, indica- 
ting the clear purpose of the State Senate to honor 
simply and solely the offices of the President and of the 
Secretary of State, but just as distinctly to honor the 
persons of the General of the Army and the Admiral of 
the Navy. 

On the arrival of the party in Albany they came up to 
the State House, and were received under the portico 
by Governor Fenton and his staff. It was perfectly 
understood that Governor Fenton, though a Republican, 
was in sympathy with the party in the Senate which had 
put this slight upon the President and Secretary of State, 



SENATORSHIP AT ALBANY- 1864-1867 131 

and Mr. Seward's action was characteristic. Having re- 
turned a curt and dry reply to the guarded phrases of the 
governor, he pressed by him with the President and his 
associates to the ' ' Executive Chamber ' ' near the entrance, 
the way to which he, of all men, well knew. In that room 
the Senate were assembled and, on the entrance of the 
visitors, Governor Fenton endeavored to introduce them 
in a formal speech ; but Mr. Seward was too prompt for 
him ; he took the words out of the governor 's mouth and 
said, in a way which thrilled all of us who had been 
brought up to love and admire him, "In the Executive 
Chamber of the State of New York I surely need no in- 
troduction. I bring to you the President of the United 
States; the chief magistrate who is restoring peace and 
prosperity to our country." 

The whole scene impressed me greatly; there rushed 
upon me a strong tide of recollection as I contrasted what 
Governor Fenton had been and was, with what Governor 
Seward had been and was : it all seemed to me a ghastly 
mistake. There stood Fenton, marking the lowest point 
in the choice of a State executive ever reached in our 
Commonwealth by the Republican party: there stood 
Seward who, from his boyhood in college, had fought 
courageously, steadily, powerfully, and at last trium- 
phantly, against the domination of slavery ; who, as State 
senator, as governor, as the main founder of the Republi- 
can party, as senator of the United States and finally as 
Secretary of State, had rendered service absolutely ines- 
timable; who for years had braved storms of calumny 
and ridicule and finally the knife of an assassin ; and who 
was now adhering to Andrew Johnson simply because he 
knew that if he let go his hold, the President would re- 
lapse into the hands of men opposed to any rational set- 
tlement of the questions between the North and South. I 
noticed on Seward's brow the deep scar made by the 
assassin's knife when Lincoln was murdered; all the 
others, greatly as I admired Grant and Farragut, passed 
with me at that time for nothing ; my eyes were fixed upon 
the Secretary of State. 



132 POLITICAL LIFE-V 

After all was over I canie out with my colleague, Judge 
Folger, and as we left the Capitol he said: "What was 
the matter with you in the governor's room?" I an- 
swered : ' ' Nothing was the matter with me ; what do you 
mean?" He said: "The moment Seward began to speak 
you fastened your eyes intently upon him, you turned so 
pale that I thought you were about to drop, and I made 
ready to seize you and prevent your falling. ' ' I then con- 
fessed to him the feeling which was doubtless the cause 
of this change of countenance. 

As one who cherishes a deep affection for my native 
State and for men who have made it great, I may be al- 
lowed here to express the hope that the day will come 
when it will redeem itself from the just charge of ingrati- 
tude, and do itself honor by honoring its two greatest 
governors, De Witt Clinton and William H. Seward. No 
statue of either of them stands at Albany, the place of all 
others where such memorials should be erected, not 
merely as an honor to the two statesmen concerned, but as 
a lesson to the citizens of the State;— pointing out the 
qualities which ought to ensure public gratitude, but 
which, thus far, democracies have least admired. 



CHAPTER VIII 

ROSCOE CONKLING AND JUDGE FOLGER— 1867-1868 

AT the beginning of my fourth year at Albany, in 
i\ 1867, came an election to the Senate of the United 
States. Of the two senators then representing the State, 
one, Edwin B. Morgan, had been governor, and combined 
the qualities of a merchant prince and of a shrewd politi- 
cian; the other, Ira Harris, had been a highly respected 
judge, and was, from every point of view, a most worthy 
man : but unfortunately neither of these gentlemen seemed 
to exercise any adequate influence in solving the main 
questions then before Congress. 

No more important subjects have ever come before that 
body than those which arose during the early years of 
the Civil War, and it was deeply felt throughout the State 
that neither of the senators fitly uttered its yoice or exer- 
cised its influence. 

Mr. Cornell, with whom I had then become intimate, was 
never censorious ; rarely did he say anything in disappro- 
val of any man ; he was charitable in his judgments, and 
generally preferred to be silent rather than severe ; but I 
remember that on his return from a stay in Washing- 
ton, he said to me indignantly: "While at the Capitol 
I was ashamed of the State of New York : one great ques- 
tion after another came up ; bills of the highest importance 
were presented and discussed by senators from Ohio, Ver- 
mont, Missouri, Indiana, Iowa, and the rest; but from 
New York never a word ! ' ' 

The question now was, who should succeed Senator 

133 



134 POLITICAL LIFE-VI 

Harris ? He naturally desired a second term, and it would 
have given me pleasure to support him, for he was an old 
and honored friend of my father and mother, they having 
been, in their early life, his neighbors and schoolmates, 
and their friendship having descended to me; but like 
others I was disappointed that Senator Harris had not 
taken a position more fitting. His main efforts seemed to 
be in the line of friendly acts for his constituents. In so 
far as these were done for soldiers in the army they were 
praiseworthy ; though it was generally felt that while aris- 
ing primarily from a natural feeling of benevolence, they 
were mainly devoted to securing a body of friends 
throughout the State who would support him when the 
time should come for his reelection. Apparently with the 
same object, he was a most devoted supporter of New 
York office-seekers of all sorts. He had pleasing personal 
characteristics, but it was reported that Mr. Lincoln, re- 
ferring to the senator 's persistency in pressing candidates 
for office, once said : ' ' I never think of going to sleep now 
without first looking under my bed to see if Judge Harris 
is not there wanting something for somebody. ' ' 

Another candidate was Judge Noah Davis, then of 
Lockport, also a man of high character, of excellent legal 
abilities, a good speaker, and one who, had he been elected, 
would have done honor to the State. But on looking about 
I discovered, as I thought, a better candidate. Judge 
Bailey, of Oneida County, had called my attention to the 
claims of Mr. Roscoe Conkling, then a member of Con- 
gress from the Oneida district, who had distinguished 
himself as an effective speaker, a successful lawyer, and 
an honest public servant. He had, to be sure, run foul of 
Mr. Blaine of Maine, and had received, in return for what 
Mr. Blaine considered a display of offensive manners, a 
very serious oratorical castigation ; but he had just fought 
a good fight which had drawn the attention of the whole 
State to him. A coalition having been formed between the 
anti-war Democrats and a number of disaffected Republi- 
cans in his district to defeat his reelection to Congress, it 



CONKLING AND FOLGER- 1867 -1868 135 

had seemed likely to overwhelm him and drive him out of 
public life, and one thing seemed for a time likely to prove 
fatal to him:— the "New York Tribune," the great organ 
of the party, edited by Horace Greeley, gave him no effec- 
tive support. But the reason was apparent later when it 
became known that Mr. Greeley was to be a candidate 
for the senatorship, and it was evidently felt that should 
Mr. Conkling triumph in such a struggle, he would be a 
very serious competitor. The young statesman had shown 
himself equal to the emergency. He had fought his battle 
without the aid of Mr. Greeley and the "Tribune," and 
won it, and, as a result, had begun to be thought of as a 
promising candidate for the United States senatorship. I 
had never spoken with him; had hardly seen him; but 
I had watched his course closely, and one thing especially 
wrought powerfully with me in his favor. The men who 
had opposed him were of the same sort with those who had 
opposed me, and as I was proud of their opposition, I 
.felt that he had a right to be so. The whole force of 
Tammany henchmen and canal contractors throughout 
the State honored us both with their enmity. 

It was arranged among Mr. Conkling 's supporters that, 
at the great caucus which was to decide the matter, Mr. 
Conkling 's name should be presented by the member of 
the assembly representing his district, Ellis .Roberts, a 
man of eminent character and ability, who, having begun 
by taking high rank as a scholar at Yale, had become one 
of the foremost editors of the State, and had afterward 
distinguished himself not only in the State legislature, but 
in Congress, and as the head of the independent treasury 
in the city of New York. The next question was as to the 
speech seconding the nomination. It was proposed that 
Judge Folger should make it, but as he showed a curious 
diffidence in the matter, and preferred to preside over the 
caucus, the duty was tendered to me. 

At the hour appointed the assembly hall of the old Capi- 
tol was full; floor and galleries were crowded to suffo- 
cation. The candidates were duly presented, and, among 



136 POLITICAL LIFE-VI 

them, Mr. Conkling by Mr. Roberts. I delayed my speech 
somewhat. The general course of it had been thought out 
beforehand, but the phraseology and sequence of argument 
were left to the occasion. I felt deeply the importance 
of nominating Mr. Conkling, and when the moment came 
threw my heart into it. I was in full health and vigor, and 
soon felt that a very large part of the audience was with 
me. Presently I used the argument that the great State 
of New York, which had been so long silent in the highest 
councils of the Nation, demanded a voice. Instantly the 
vast majority of all present, in the galleries, in the lobbies, 
and on the floor, rose in quick response to the sentiment 
and cheered with all their might. There had been no such 
outburst in the whole course of the evening. Evidently 
this was the responsive chord, and having gone on with 
the main line of my argument, I at last closed with the 
same declaration in different form;— that our great Com- 
monwealth,— the most important in the whole sisterhood 
of States,— which had been so long silent in the Senate, 
ivished to be heard, and that, therefore, I seconded the 
nomination of Mr. Conkling. Immediately the whole 
house rose to this sentiment again and again, with even 
greater evidence of approval than before; the voting be- 
gan and Mr. Conkling was finally nominated, if my mem- 
ory is correct, by a majority of three. 

The moment the vote was declared the whole assembly 
broke loose; the pressure being removed, there came a 
general effervescence of good feeling, and I suddenly 
found myself raised on the shoulders of stalwart men who 
stood near, and rapidly carried over the heads of the 
crowd, through many passages and corridors, my main 
anxiety being to protect my head so that my brains might 
not be knocked out against stairways and doorways; 
but presently, when fairly dazed and bewildered, I was 
borne into a room in the old Congress Hall Hotel, and 
deposited safely in the presence of a gentleman standing 
with his back to the fire, who at once extended his hand 
to me most cordially, and to whom I said, "God bless 



CONKLING AND FOLGER-1867-1868 137 

you, Senator Conkling." A most hearty response 
followed, and so began my closer acquaintance with the 
new senator. 

Mr. Conkling 's election followed as a thing of course, 
and throughout the State there was general approval. 

During this session of 1867 I found myself involved in 
two rather curious struggles, and with no less a personage 
than my colleague, Judge Folger. 

As to the first of these I had long felt, and still feel, that 
of all the weaknesses in our institutions, one of the most 
serious is our laxity in the administration of the criminal 
law. No other civilized country, save possibly the lower 
parts of Italy and Sicily, shows anything to approach the 
number of unpunished homicides, in proportion to the 
population, which are committed in sundry parts of our 
own country, and indeed in our country taken as a whole. 
In no country is the deterrent effect of punishment so 
vitiated by delay ; in no country is so much facility given 
to chicanery, to futile appeals, and to every possible means 
of clearing men from the due penalty of high crime, and 
especially the crime of murder. 

It was in view of this fact that, acting on the advice of an 
old and able judge whose experience in criminal practice 
had been very large, I introduced into the Senate a 
bill to improve the procedure in criminal cases. The 
judge just referred to had shown me the absurdities 
arising from the fact that testimony in regard to charac- 
ter, even in the case of professional criminals, was not 
allowed save in rebuttal. It was notorious that profes- 
sional criminals charged with high crimes, especially in 
our large cities, frequently went free because, while the 
testimony to the particular crime was not absolutely over- 
whelming, testimony to their character as professional 
criminals, which, in connection with the facts established, 
would have been absolutely conclusive, could not be ad- 
mitted. I therefore proposed that testimony as to char- 
acter in any criminal case might be introduced by the 
prosecution if, after having been privately submitted to 



138 POLITICAL LIFE -VI 

the judge, he should decide that the ends of justice would 
be furthered thereby. 

The bill was referred to the Senate judiciary committee, 
of which Judge Folger was chairman. After it had lain 
there some weeks and the judge had rather curtly an- 
swered my questions as to when it would be reported, it 
became clear to me that the committee had no intention of 
reporting it at all, whereupon I introduced a resolution 
requesting them to report it, at the earliest day possible, 
for the consideration of the Senate, and this was passed 
in spite of the opposition of the committee. Many days 
then passed; no report was made, and I therefore intro- 
duced a resolution taking the bill out of the hands of the 
committee and bringing it directly before the committee 
of the whole. This was most earnestly resisted by Judge 
Folger and by his main associate on the committee, Henry 
Murphy of Brooklyn. On the other hand I had, to aid me, 
Judge Lowe, also a lawyer of high standing, and indeed 
all the lawyers in the body who were not upon the judi- 
ciary committee. The result was that my motion was 
successful; the bill was taken from the committee and 
immediately brought under discussion. 

In reply to the adverse arguments of Judge Folger and 
Mr. Murphy, which were to the effect that my bill was an 
innovation upon the criminal law of the State, I pointed 
out the fact that evidence as to the character of the person 
charged with crime is often all-important; that in our 
daily life we act upon that fact as the simplest dictate of 
common sense ; that if any senator present had his watch 
stolen from his room he would be very slow to charge the 
crime against the servant who was last seen in the room, 
even under very suspicious circumstances ; but if he found 
that the servant had been discharged for theft from vari- 
ous places previously, this would be more important than 
any other circumstance. I showed how safeguards which 
had been devised in the middle ages to protect citizens 
from the feudal lord were now used to aid criminals in 
evading the law, and I ended by rather unjustly compar- 



CONKLING AND FOLGER- 1867 -1868 139 

ing Judge Folger to the great Lord Chancellor Eldon, of 
whom it was said that, despite his profound knowledge 
of the law, "no man ever did so much good as he pre- 
vented." The result was that the bill was passed by the 
Senate in spite of the judiciary committee. 

During the continuance of the discussion Judge Folger 
had remained in his usual seat, but immediately after the 
passage of the bill he resumed his place as president of the 
Senate. He was evidently vexed, and in declaring the 
Senate adjourned he brought the gavel down with a sort 
of fling which caused it to fly out of his hand and fall in 
front of his desk on the floor. Fortunately it was after 
midnight and few saw it ; but there was a general feeling 
of regret among us all that a man so highly respected 
should have so lost his temper. By common consent the 
whole matter was hushed; no mention of it, so far as I 
could learn, was made in the public press, and soon all 
seemed forgotten. 

Unfortunately it was remembered, and in a quarter 
which brought upon Judge Folger one of the worst dis- 
appointments of his life. 

For, in the course of the following summer, the Constitu- 
tional Convention of the State was to hold its session and 
its presidency was justly considered a great honor. Two 
candidates were named, one being Judge Folger and the 
other Mr. William A. Wheeler, then a member of Congress 
and afterward Vice-President of the United States. The 
result of the canvas by the friends of both these gentlemen 
seemed doubtful, when one morning there appeared in the 
"New York Tribune," the most powerful organ of the Re- 
publican party, one of Horace Greeley's most trenchant 
articles. It dwelt on the importance of the convention 
in the history of the State, on the responsibility of its 
members, on the characteristics which should mark its 
presiding officer, and, as to this latter point, wound up 
pungently by saying that it would be best to have a presi- 
dent who, when he disagreed with members, did not throw 
his gavel at them. This shot took effect; it ran through 



140 POLITICAL LIFE-VI 

the State ; people asked the meaning of it ; various exag- 
gerated legends became current, one of them being that he 
had thrown the gavel at me personally ;— and Mr. Wheeler 
became president of the convention. 

But before the close of the session another matter had 
come up which cooled still more the relations between 
Judge Folger and myself. For many sessions, year after 
year, there had been before the legislature a bill for estab- 
lishing a canal connecting the interior lake system of the 
State with Lake Ontario. This was known as the Sodus 
Canal Bill, and its main champion was a public-spirited 
man from Judge Folger 's own district. In favor of the 
canal various arguments were urged, one of them being 
that it would enable the United States, while keeping 
within its treaty obligations with Great Britain, to build 
ships on these smaller lakes, which, in case of need, could 
be passed through the canal into the great chain of lakes 
extending from Lake Ontario to Lake Superior. To this 
it was replied that such an evasion of the treaty was not 
especially creditable to those suggesting it, and that the 
main purpose of the bill really was to create a vast water 
power which should enure to the benefit of sundry gentle- 
men in Judge Folger 's district. 

Up to this time Judge Folger seemed never to care 
much for the bill, and I had never made any especial effort 
against it ; but when, just at the close of the session, cer- 
tain constituents of mine upon the Oswego River had 
shown me that there was great danger in the proposed 
canal to the water supply through the counties of Onon- 
daga and Oswego, I opposed the measure. Thereupon 
Judge Folger became more and more earnest in its favor, 
and it soon became evident that all his power would be 
used to pass it during the few remaining days of the 
session. By his influence it was pushed rapidly through 
all its earlier stages, and at last came up before the Sen- 
ate. It seemed sure to pass within ten minutes, when I 
moved that the whole matter be referred to the approach- 
ing Constitutional Convention, which was to begin its ses- 



CONKLING A2n t D FOLGER-18G7-1868 141 

sions immediately after the adjournment of the legislature, 
and Judge Folger having spoken against this motion, I 
spoke in its favor and did what I have never done before 
in my life and probably shall never do again— spoke 
against time. There was no "previous question" in the 
Senate, no limitation as to the. period during which a 
member could discuss any measure, and, as the youngest 
member in the body, I was in the full flush of youthful 
strength. I therefore announced my intention to present 
some three hundred arguments in favor of referring the 
whole matter to the State Constitutional Convention, those 
arguments being based upon the especial fitness of its 
three hundred members to decide the question, as shown 
by the personal character and life history of each and 
every one of them. I then went on with this series of 
biographies, beginning with that of Judge Folger him- 
self, and paying him most heartily and cordially every 
tribute possible, including some of a humorous nature. 
Having given about half an hour to the judge, I then took 
up sundry other members and kept on through the entire 
morning. I had the floor and no one could dispossess me. 
The lieutenant-governor, in the chair, General Stewart 
Woodford, was perfectly just and fair, and although 
Judge Folger and Mr. Murphy used all their legal acute- 
ness in devising some means of evading the rules, they 
were in every case declared by the lieutenant-governor to 
be out of order, and the floor was in every case reassigned 
to me. Meantime, the whole Senate, though anxious to 
adjourn, entered into the spirit of the matter, various 
members passing me up biographical notes on the mem- 
bers of the convention, some of them very comical, and 
presently the hall was crowded with members of the as- 
sembly as well as senators, all cheering me on. The 
reason for this was very simple. There had come to be 
a general understanding of the case, namely, that Judge 
Folger, by virtue of his great power and influence, was 
trying in the last hours of the session to force through a 
bill for the benefit of his district, and that I was simply 



142 POLITICAL LIFE-VI 

doing my best to prevent an injustice. The result was 
that I went on hour after hour with my series of biogra- 
phies, until at last Judge Folger himself sent me word 
that if I would desist and allow the legislature to adjourn 
he would make no further effort to carry the bill at that 
session. To this I instantly agreed ; the bill was dropped 
for that session and for all sessions : so far as I can learn 
it has never reappeared. 

Shortly after our final adjournment the Constitutional 
Convention came together. It was one of the best bodies 
of the kind ever assembled in any State, as a list of its 
members abundantly shows. There was much work for 
it, and most important of all was the reorganization of 
the highest judicial body in the State— the Court of Ap- 
peals—which had become hopelessly inadequate. 

The two principal members of the convention from the 
city of New York were Horace Greeley, editor of the 
"Tribune," and William M. Evarts, afterward Attorney- 
General, United States senator, and Secretary of State of 
the United States. Mr. Greeley was at first all-powerful. 
As has already been seen, he had been able to prevent 
Judge Folger taking the presidency of the convention, 
and for a few days he had everything his own way. But 
he soon proved so erratic a leader that his influence was 
completely lost, and after a few sessions there was hardly 
any member with less real power to influence the judg- 
ments of his colleagues. 

This was not for want of real ability in his speeches, 
for at various times I heard him make, for and against 
measures, arguments admirably pungent, forcible, and 
far-reaching, but there seemed to be a universal feeling 
that he was an unsafe guide. 

Soon came a feature in his course which made matters 
worse. The members of the convention, many of them, 
were men in large business and very anxious to have a 
day or two each week for their own affairs. Moreover, 
during the first weeks of the session, while the main mat- 
ters coming before the convention were still in the hands 



CONKLING AND FOLGER- 1867-1868 143 

of committees, there was really not enough business ready 
for the convention to occupy it through all the days of the 
week, and consequently it adopted the plan, for the first 
weeks at least, of adjourning from Friday night till Tues- 
day morning. This vexed Mr. Greeley sorely. He in- 
sisted that the convention ought to keep at its business 
and finish it without any such weekly adjournments, and, 
as his arguments to this effect did not prevail in the con- 
vention, he began making them through the "Tribune" 
before the people of the State. Soon his arguments be- 
came acrid, and began undermining the convention at 
every point. 

As to Mr. Greeley's feeling regarding the weekly ad- 
journment, one curious thing was reported: There was 
a member from New York of a literary turn for whom the 
great editor had done much in bringing his verses and 
other productions before the public— a certain Mr. Du- 
ganne ; but it happened that, on one of the weekly motions 
to adjourn, Mr. Duganne had voted in the affirmative, and, 
as a result, Mr. Greeley, meeting him just afterward, up- 
braided him in a manner which filled the rural bystanders 
with consternation. It was well known to those best ac- 
quainted with the editor of the ' ' Tribune ' ' that, when ex- 
cited, he at times indulged in the most ingenious and pic- 
turesque expletives, and some of Mr. Chauncey Depew's 
best stories of that period pointed to this fact. On this 
occasion Mr. Greeley really outdid himself, and the 
result was that the country members, who up to that 
time had regarded him with awe as the representative of 
the highest possible morality in public and private life, 
were greatly dismayed, and in various parts of the room 
they were heard expressing their amazement, and saying 
to each other in awe-stricken tones: "Why! Greeley 
swears ! ' ' 

Ere long Mr. Greeley was taking, almost daily in the 
"Tribune," steady ground against the doings of his col- 
leagues. Lesser newspapers followed with no end of 
cheap and easy denunciation, and the result was that the 



1 POLITICAL LIFE -VI 

convention became thoroughly, though unjustly, discred- 
ited throughout the State, and indeed throughout the 
country. A curious proof of this met me. Being at 
Cambridge, Massachusetts, I passed an evening with Gov- 
ernor Washburn, one of the most thoughtful and valuable 
public men of that period. In the course of our conversa- 
tion he said: ''Mr. White, it is really sad to hear of the 
doings at your Albany convention. I can remember your 
constitutional convention of 1846, and when I compare 
this convention with that, it grieves me." My answer 
was: "Governor Washburn, you are utterly mistaken: 
there has never been a constitutional convention in the 
State of New York, not even that you name, which has 
contained so many men of the highest ability and charac- 
ter as the one now in session, and none which has really 
done better work. I am not a member of the body and 
can say this in its behalf." At this he expressed his 
amazement, and pointed to the "Tribune" in confirmation 
of his own position. I then stated the case to him, and, I 
think, alleviated his distress. 

But as the sessions of the convention drew to a close and 
the value of its work began to be clearly understood, 
Greeley's nobler qualities, his real truthfulness and public 
spirit began to assert themselves, and more than once he 
showed practical shrewdness and insight. Going into 
convention one morning, I found the question under dis- 
cussion to be the election of the secretary of state, attor- 
ney-general, and others of the governor's cabinet, whose 
appointment under the older constitutions was wisely 
left to the governor, but who, for twenty years, had 
been elected by the people. There was a wide-spread feel- 
ing that the old system was wiser, and that the new had 
by no means justified itself ; in fact, that by fastening on 
the governor the responsibility for his cabinet, the State 
is likely to secure better men than when their choice is 
left to the hurly-burly of intrigue and prejudice in a nom- 
inating convention. 

The main argument made by those who opposed such a 



CONKLING AND FOLGER-1867-1868 145 

return to the old, better order of things was that the 
people would not like it and would be inclined to vote 
down the new constitution on account of it. 

In reply to this, Mr. Greeley arose and made a most 
admirable short speech ending with these words, given in 
his rapid falsetto, with a sort of snap that made the whole 
seem like one word: ' ' When-the-people-take-up-their- 
ballots-they-want-to-see-who-is-to-be-governor : that's-all- 
they-care-about : they-don 't-want-to-read-a-whole-chapter- 
of-the-Bible-on-their-ballots. ' ' 

Unfortunately, the majority dared not risk the popular 
ratification of the new constitution, and so this amendment 
was lost. 

No doubt Mr. Greeley was mainly responsible for this 
condition of things ; his impatience with the convention, as 
shown by his articles in the ' ' Tribune, ' ' had been caught 
by the people of the State. 

The long discussions were very irksome to him, and one 
day I mildly expostulated with him on account of some 
of his utterances against the much speaking of his col- 
leagues, and said : "After all, Mr. Greeley, is n't it a pretty 
good thing to have a lot of the best men in the State come 
together every twenty years and thoroughly discuss the 
whole constitution, to see what improvements can be 
made ; and is not the familiarity with the constitution and 
interest in it thus aroused among the people at large worth 
all the fatigue arising from long speeches?" "Well, per- 
haps so," he said, but he immediately began to grumble 
and finally to storm in a comical way against some of his 
colleagues who, it must be confessed, were tiresome. Still 
he became interested more and more in the work, and as 
the new constitution emerged from the committees and 
public debates, he evidently saw that it was a great gain 
to the State, and now did his best through the "Tribune" 
to undo what he had been doing. He wrote editorials 
praising the work of the convention and urging that it be 
adopted. But all in vain : the unfavorable impression had 
been too widely and deeply made, and the result was that 

L— 10 



146 POLITICAL LIFE-VI 

the new constitution, when submitted to the people, was 
ignominiously voted down, and the whole summer's work 
of the convention went for nothing. Later, however, a 
portion of it was rescued and put into force through the 
agency of a "Constitutional Commission," a small body 
of first-rate men who sat at Albany, and whose main con- 
clusions were finally adopted in the shape of amendments 
to the old constitution. There was, none the less, a 
wretched loss to the State. 

During the summer of 1867 I was completely immersed 
in the duties of my new position at Cornell University; 
going through various institutions in New England and 
the Western States to note the workings of their technical 
departments; visiting Ithaca to consult with Mr. Cornell 
and to look over plans for buildings, and credentials for 
professorships, or, shut up in my own study at Syracuse, 
or in the cabins of Cayuga Lake steamers, drawing up 
schemes of university organization, so that my political 
life soon seemed ages behind me. 

While on a visit to Harvard, I was invited by Agassiz 
to pass a day with him at Nahant in order to discuss 
methods and men. He entered into the matter very 
earnestly, agreed to give us an extended course of lec- 
tures, which he afterward did, and aided us in many 
ways. One remark of his surprised me. I had asked him 
to name men, and he had taken much pains to do so, when 
suddenly he turned to me abruptly and said : ' ' Who is to 
be your professor of moral philosophy? That is by far 
the most important matter in your whole organization." 
It seemed strange that one who had been honored by the 
whole world as probably the foremost man in natural 
science then living, and who had been denounced by many 
exceedingly orthodox people as an enemy of religion, 
should take this view of the new faculty, but it showed 
how deeply and sincerely religious he was. I soon re- 
assured him on the point he had raised, and then went on 
with the discussion of scientific men, methods, and equip- 
ments. 



CONKLING AND FOLGER-18G7-1868 147 

I was also asked by the poet Longfellow to pass a day 
with him at his beautiful Nahant cottage in order to dis- 
cuss certain candidates and methods in literature. No- 
thing could be more delightful than his talk as we sat 
together on the veranda looking out over the sea, with the 
gilded dome of the State House, which he pointed out to 
me as "The Hub," in the dim distance. One question of 
his amused me much. We were discussing certain recent 
events in which Mr. Horace Greeley had played an im- 
portant part, and after alluding to Mr. Greeley's course 
during the War, he turned his eyes fully but mildly 
upon me and said slowly and solemnly : "Mr. White, don't 
you think Mr. Greeley a very useless sort of man ? ' ' The 
question struck me at first as exceedingly comical ; for, I 
thought, "Imagine Mr. Greeley, who thinks himself, and 
with reason, a useful man if there ever was one, and whose 
whole life has been devoted to what he has thought of the 
highest and most direct use to his fellow-men, hearing this 
question put in a dreamy way by a poet,— a writer of 
verse) _ probably the last man in America whom Mr. 
Greeley would consider 'useful.' " But my old admiration 
for the great editor came back in a strong tide, and if I 
was ever eloquent it was in showing Mr. Longfellow how 
great, how real, how sincere, and in the highest degree 
how useful Mr. Greeley had been. 

Another man of note whom I met in those days was 
Judge Rockwood Hoar, afterward named by General 
Grant Attorney-General of the United States, noted as a 
profound lawyer of pungent wit and charming humor, the 
delight of his friends and the terror of his enemies. I 
saw him first at Harvard during a competition for the 
Boylston prize at which we were fellow- judges. All the 
speaking was good, some of it admirable; but the espe- 
cially remarkable pieces were two. First of these was a 
recital of Washington Irving 's "Broken Heart," by an 
undergraduate from the British provinces, Robert Alder 
McLeod. Nothing could be more simple and perfect in its 
way; nothing more free from any effort at orating; all 



148 POLITICAL LIFE-VI 

was in the most quiet and natural manner possible. The 
second piece was a rendering of Poe's "Bells," and was 
a most amazing declamation, the different sorts of bells 
being indicated by changes of voice ranging from basso 
profondo to the highest falsetto, and the feelings aroused 
in the orator being indicated by modulations which must 
have cost him months of practice. 

The contest being ended, and the committee having re- 
tired to make their award, various members expressed an 
opinion in favor of Mr. McLeod's quiet recital, when 
Judge Hoar, who had seemed up to that moment immersed 
in thought, seemed suddenly to awake, and said: "If I 
had a son who spoke that bell piece in that style I believe 
I 'd choke him." The vote was unanimously in favor of 
Mr. McLeod, and then came out a curious fact. Having 
noticed that he bore an empty sleeve, I learned from Pro- 
fessor Peabody that he had lost his arm while fighting on 
the Confederate side in our Civil War, and that he was a 
man of remarkably fine scholarship and noble character. 
He afterward became an instructor at Harvard, but died 
early. 

During the following autumn, in spite of my absorption 
in university interests, I was elected a delegate to the State 
Convention, and in October made a few political speeches, 
the most important being at Clinton, the site of Hamilton 
College. This was done at the special request of Senator 
Conkling, and on my way I passed a day with him at 
Utica, taking a long drive through the adjacent country. 
Never was he more charming. The bitter and sarcastic 
mood seemed to have dropped off him; the overbearing 
manner had left no traces ; he was full of delightful rem- 
iniscences and it was a day to be remembered. 

I also spoke at various other places and, last of all, at 
Clifton Springs, but received there a rebuff which was not 
without its uses. 

I had thought my speeches successful; but at the latter 
place, taking the cars next morning, I heard a dialogue 
between two railway employees, as follows: 



CONKLING AND FOLGER- 1867 -1868 149 

"Bill, did you go to the meetin' last night?" "Yes." 
' ' How was it ? " ' ' It wa 'n 't no meetin ', leastwise no p 'liti- 
cal meetin' ; there wa'n't nothin' in it fur the boys ; it was 
only one of them scientific college purfessors lecturin'." 
And so I sped homeward, pondering on many things, but 
strengthened, by this homely criticism, in my determina- 
tion to give my efforts henceforth to the new university. 



CHAPTER IX 

GENERAL GRANT AND SANTO DOMINGO— 1868-1871 

DURING the two or three years following my senato- 
rial term, work in the founding and building of Cor- 
nell University was so engrossing that there was little 
time for any effort which could be called political. In 
the early spring of 1868 I went to Europe to examine 
institutions for scientific and technological instruction, 
and to secure professors and equipment, and during about 
six months I visited a great number of such schools, es- 
pecially those in agriculture, mechanical, civil, and mining 
engineering and the like in England, France, Germany, 
and Italy; bought largely of books and apparatus, dis- 
cussed the problems at issue with Europeans who seemed 
likely to know most about them, secured sundry pro- 
fessors, and returned in September just in time to take 
part in the opening of Cornell University and be inaugu- 
rated as its first president. Of all this I shall speak more 
in detail hereafter. 

There was no especial temptation to activity in the 
political campaign of that year ; for the election of General 
Grant was sure, and my main memory of the period is a 
visit to Auburn to hear Mr. Seward. 

It had been his wont for many years, when he came 
home to cast his vote, to meet his neighbors on the eve of 
the election and give his views of the situation and of its 
resultant duties. These occasions had come to be antici- 
pated with the deepest interest by the whole region round 
about, and what had begun as a little gathering of neigh- 

150 



GRANT AND SANTO DOMINGO-18G8-1871 151 

bors had now become such an assembly that the largest 
hall in the place was crowded with voters of all parties. 

But this year came a disappointment. Although the 
contest was between General Grant,— who on various de- 
cisive battle-fields had done everything to save the admin- 
istration of which Mr. Seward had been a leading member, 
—and on the other side, Governor Horatio Seymour, who 
had done all in his power to wreck it, Mr. Seward devoted 
his speech to optimistic generalities, hardly alluding to 
the candidates, and leaving the general impression that 
one side was just as worthy of support as the other. 

The speech was an unfortunate ending of Mr. Seward's 
career. It was not surprising that some of his old ad- 
mirers bitterly resented it, and a remark by Mr. Cornell 
some time afterward indicated much. We were arranging 
together a program for the approaching annual com- 
mencement when I suggested for the main address Mr. 
Seward. Mr. Cornell had been one of Mr. Seward's 
lifelong supporters, but he received this proposal coldly, 
pondered it for a few moments silently, and then said 
dryly, " Perhaps you are right, but if you call him you 
will show to our students the deadest man that ain 't buried 
in the State of New York." So, to my regret, was lost the 
last chance to bring the old statesman to Cornell. I have 
always regretted this loss ; his presence would have given 
a true consecration to the new institution. A career like 
his should not be judged by its little defects and lapses, 
and this I felt even more deeply on receiving, some time 
after his death, the fifth volume of his published works, 
which was largely made up of his despatches and other 
papers written during the war. When they were first 
published in the newspapers, I often thought them long 
and was impatient at their optimism, but now, when I read 
them all together, saw in them the efforts made by the 
heroic old man to keep the hands of European powers 
off us while we were restoring the Union, and noted the 
desperation with which he fought, the encouragement 
which he infused into our diplomatic representatives 



152 POLITICAL LIFE-VII 

abroad, and his struggle, almost against fate, in the time 
of our reverses, I was fascinated. The book had arrived 
early in the evening, and next morning found me still 
seated in my library chair completely absorbed in it. 

In the spring of the year 1870, while as usual in the 
thick of university work, I was again drawn for a moment 
into the current of New York politics. The long wished 
for amendment of the State constitution, putting our high- 
est tribunal, the Court of Appeals, on a better footing 
than it had ever been before, making it more adequate, the 
term longer, and the salaries higher, had been passed, and 
judges were to be chosen at the next election. Each of the 
two great parties was entitled to an equal number of 
judges, and I was requested to go to the approaching 
nominating convention at Rochester in order to present 
the name of my old friend and neighbor, Charles 
Andrews. 

It was a most honorable duty, no man could have de- 
sired a better candidate, and I gladly accepted the man- 
date. Although it was one of the most staid and dignified 
bodies of the sort which has ever met in the State, it had 
as a preface a pleasant farce. 

As usual, the seething cauldron of New York City poli- 
tics had thrown to the surface some troublesome delegates, 
and among them was one long famed as a "Tammany 
Republican." 

Our first business was the choice of a president for the 
convention, and, as it had been decided by the State com- 
mittee to present for that office the name of one of the most 
respected judges in the State, the Honorable Piatt Potter, 
of Schenectady, it was naturally expected that some mem- 
ber of the regular organization would present his name 
in a dignified speech. But hardly had the chairman of 
the State committee called the convention to order when 
the aforesaid Tammany Republican, having heard that 
Judge Potter was to be elected, thought evidently that 
he could gain recognition and applause by being the 
first to present his name. He therefore rushed for- 



GRANT AND SANTO DOMINGO- 18G8-1871 153 

ward, and almost before the chairman had declared the 
convention opened, cried out: "Mr. Chairman, I move 
you, sir, that the Honorable 'Pot Platter' be made 
president of this convention. ' : A scream of laughter went 
up from all parts of the house, and in an instant a gentle- 
man rose and moved to amend by making the name ' ' Piatt 
Potter. ' ' This was carried, and the proposer of the orig- 
inal motion retired crestfallen to his seat. 

I had the honor of presenting Mr. Andrews's name. 
He was nominated and elected triumphantly, and so be- 
gan the career of one of the best judges that New York 
has ever had on its highest court, who has also for many 
years occupied, with the respect and esteem of the State, 
the position of chief justice. 

The convention then went on to nominate other judges, 
—nomination being equivalent to election,— but when the 
last name was reached there came a close contest. An old 
friend informed me that Judge Folger, my former col- 
league in the Senate and since that assistant treasurer of 
the United States in the city of New York, was exceed- 
ingly anxious to escape from this latter position, and 
desired greatly the nomination to a judgeship on the Court 
of Appeals. 

I decided at once to do what was possible to secure 
Judge Folger 's nomination, though our personal relations 
were very unsatisfactory. Owing to our two conflicts at 
the close of our senatorial term above referred to, and 
to another case where I thought he had treated me un- 
justly, we had never exchanged a word since I had left 
the State Senate; and though we met each other from 
time to time on the board of Cornell University trustees, 
we passed each other in silence. Our old friendship, which 
had been very dear to me, seemed forever broken, but I 
felt deeply that the fault was not mine. At the same time 
I recognized the fact that Judge Folger was not especially 
adapted to the position of assistant treasurer of the United 
States, and was admirably fitted for the position of judge 
in the Court of Appeals. I therefore did everything pos- 



154 POLITICAL LIFE-VII 

sible to induce one or two of the delegations with which I 
had some influence to vote for him, dwelling especially 
upon his former judgeship, his long acquaintance with the 
legislation of the State, and his high character, and at last 
he was elected by a slight majority. 

The convention having adjourned, I was on my way to 
the train when I was met by Judge Folger, who had just 
arrived. He put out his hand and greeted me most heart- 
ily, showing very deep feeling as he expressed his regret 
over our estrangement. Of course I was glad that bygones 
were to be bygones, and that our old relations were re- 
stored. He became a most excellent judge, and finally 
chief justice of the State, which position he left to become 
Secretary of the Treasury. 

To the political cataclysm which ended his public activ- 
ity and doubtless hastened his death, I refer elsewhere. 
As long as he lived our friendly relations continued, and 
this has been to me ever since a great satisfaction. 

In this same year, 1870, occurred my first extended con- 
versation with General Grant. At my earlier meeting with 
him when he was with President Johnson in Albany, I had 
merely been stiffly presented to him, and we had ex- 
changed a few commonplaces ; but I was now invited to his 
cottage at Long Branch and enjoyed a long and pleasant 
talk with him. Its main subject was the Franco-German 
War then going on, and his sympathies were evidently 
with Germany. His comments on the war were prophetic. 
There was nothing dogmatic in them; nothing could be 
more simple and modest than his manner and utterance, 
but there was a clearness and quiet force in them which 
impressed me greatly. He was the first great general I 
had ever seen, and I was strongly reminded of his mingled 
diffidence and mastery when, some years afterward, I 
talked with Moltke in Berlin. 

Another experience of that summer dwells in my mem- 
ory. I was staying, during the first week of September, 
with my dear old friend, Dr. Henry M. Field, at Stock- 
bridge, in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts, and 



GRANT AND SANTO DOMINGO-1868-1871 155 

had the good fortune, at the house of his brother, the 
eminent jurist, David Dudley Field, to pass a rainy even- 
ing in company with Mr. Burton Harrison, who, after a 
distinguished career at Yale, had been the private secre- 
tary of Jefferson Davis, president of the Southern Confed- 
eracy. On that evening a storm had kept away all but a 
few of us, and Mr. Harrison yielded to our entreaties to 
give us an account of Mr. Davis's flight at the surrender of 
Richmond, from the time when he quietly left his pew in 
St. Paul's Church to that of his arrest by United States 
soldiers. The story was most vivid, and Mr. Harrison, as 
an eye witness, told it simply and admirably. There had 
already grown out of this flight of Mr. Davis a most 
luxuriant tangle of myth and legend, and it had come to 
be generally believed that the Confederate president had 
at last endeavored to shield himself behind the women of 
his household ; that when arrested he was trying to escape 
in the attire of his wife, including a hooped skirt and a 
bonnet, and that he was betrayed by an incautious display 
of his military boots beneath his wife's flounces. The 
simple fact was that, having separated from his family 
party, and seeking escape to the coast or mountains, he 
was again and again led by his affection for his family to 
return to them, his fears for them overcoming all care 
for himself ; and that, as he was suffering from neuralgia, 
he wore over his clothing, to guard him from the incessant 
rain, Mrs. Davis' waterproof cloak. Out of this grew the 
legend which found expression in jubilant newspaper ar- 
ticles, songs, and caricatures. 

This reminds me that some years later, my old college 
friend, Colonel William Preston Johnston, president of 
Tulane University, told me a story which throws light 
upon that collapse of the Confederacy. Colonel Johnston 
was at that period the military secretary of President 
Davis, and, as the catastrophe approached, was much 
vexed at the interminable debates in the Confederate Con- 
gress. Among the subjects of these discussions was the 
great seal of the Confederacy. It had been decided to 



156 POLITICAL LIFE-VII 

adopt for this purpose a relief representing Crawford's 
statue of Washington at Richmond, with the Southern 
statesmen and soldiers surrounding it; but though all 
agreed that Washington, in his Continental costume, and 
holding in his hand his cocked hat, should retain the cen- 
tral position, there were many differences of opinion as 
to the surrounding portraits, the result being that motions 
were made to strike out this or that revolutionary hero 
from one State and to replace him by another from an- 
other State, thus giving rise to lengthy eulogies of these 
various personages, so that the whole thing resembled the 
discussions in metaphysical theology by the Byzantines 
at the time when the Turks were forcing their way 
through the walls of Constantinople. One day, just be- 
fore the final catastrophe, Mr. Judah Benjamin, formerly 
United States senator, but at that time the Confederate 
secretary of state, passed through Colonel Johnston's 
office, and the following dialogue took place. 

Colonel Johnston: "What are they doing in the Senate 
and House, Mr. Secretary?" 

Mr. Benjamin: "Oh, simply debating the Confederate 
seal, moving to strike out this man and to insert that. ' ' 

Colonel Johnston: "Do you know what motion I would 
make if I were a member?" 

Mr. Benjamin: "No, what would you move?" 

Colonel Johnston: "I would move to strike out from 
the seal everything except the cocked hat. ' ' 

Colonel Johnston was right; the Confederacy was 
"knocked into a cocked hat" a few days afterward. 

In the autumn of that year, September, 1870, I was sent 
as a delegate to the State Republican Convention, and pre- 
sented as a candidate for the lieutenant-governorship a 
man who had served the State admirably in the National 
Congress and in the State legislature as well as in great 
business operations, Mr. DeWitt Littlejohn of Oswego. I 
did this on the part of sundry gentlemen who were anxious 
to save the Republican ticket, which had at its head my 
old friend General Woodford, but though I was successful 



GRANT AND SANTO DOMINGO-18G8-1871 157 

in securing Mr. Littlejolm's nomination, he soon after- 
ward declined, and defeat followed in November. 

The only part which I continued to take in State politics 
was in writing letters and in speaking, on sundry social 
occasions of a political character, in behalf of harmony 
between the two factions which were now becoming more 
and more bitter. At first I seemed to have some success, 
but before long it became clear that the current was too 
strong and that the bitterness of faction was to prevail. I 
am so constituted that factious thought and effort dis- 
hearten and disgust me. At many periods of my life 
I have acted as a "buffer" between conflicting cliques 
and factions, generally to some purpose ; now it was other- 
wise. But, as Kipling says, "that is another story." 

The hard work and serious responsibilities brought 
upon me by the new university had greatly increased. 
They had worn deeply upon me when, in the winter of 
1870-71, came an event which drew me out of my uni- 
versity life for a time and gave me a much needed change : 
—I was sent by the President as one of the three com- 
missioners to Santo Domingo to study questions relating 
to the annexation of the Spanish part of that island which 
was then proposed, and to report thereupon to Congress. 

While in Washington at this time I saw much of Presi- 
dent Grant, Mr. Sumner, and various other men who were 
then leading in public affairs, but some account of them 
will be given in my reminiscences of the Santo Domingo 
expedition. 

I trust that it may be allowed me here to recall an inci- 
dent which ought to have been given in a preceding chap- 
ter. During one of my earlier visits to the National 
Capital, I made the acquaintance of Senator McDougal. 
His distorted genius had evidently so dazzled his fellow- 
citizens of California that, in spite of his defects, they had 
sent him to the highest council of the Nation. He was a 
martyr to conviviality, and when more or less under 
the sway of it, had strange ideas and quaint ways of ex- 
pressing them. His talk recalled to me a time in my child- 



158 POLITICAL LIFE -VII 

hood when, having found a knob of glass, twisted, striated 
with different colors, and filled with air bubbles, I enjoyed 
looking at the landscape through it. Everything became 
grotesquely transfigured. A cabbage in the foreground 
became opalescent, and an ear of corn a mass of jewels, 
but the whole atmosphere above and beyond was lurid, and 
the chimneys and church spires were topsy-turvy. 

The only other person whose talk ever produced an im- 
pression of this sort on me was Tolstoy, and he will be 
discussed in another chapter. 

McDougal's peculiarity made him at last unbearable; 
so much so that the Senate was obliged to take measures 
against him. His speech in his own defense showed the 
working of his mind, and one passage most of all. It re- 
mains probably the best defense of drunkenness ever 
made, and it ran as follows : 

"Mr. President,— I pity the man who has never viewed 
the affairs of this world, save from the poor, low, miser- 
able plane of ordinary sobriety." 

My absence in the West Indies covered the first three 
months of the year 1871, and then the commission re- 
turned to Washington and made its report ; but regarding 
this I shall speak at length in the chapter of my diplo- 
matic experiences, devoted to the Santo Domingo question. 



CHAPTER X 

THE GREELEY CAMPAIGN— 1872 

HAVING finished my duties on the Santo Domingo 
Commission, I returned to the University in May 
of 1871, devoted myself again to my duties as president 
and professor, and, in the mass of arrears which had ac- 
cumulated, found ample occupation. I also delivered 
various addresses at universities, colleges, and elsewhere, 
keeping as remote from politics as possible. 

In June, visiting New York in order to take part in a 
dinner given by various journalists and others to my 
classmate and old friend, George Washburne Smalley, at 
that time the London correspondent of the "New York 
Tribune," I met, for the first time, Colonel John Hay, 
who was in the full tide of his brilliant literary career and 
who is, as I write this, Secretary of State of the United 
States. His clear, thoughtful talk strongly impressed me, 
but the most curious circumstance connected with the af- 
fair was that several of us on the way to Delmonico's 
stopped for a time to observe the public reception given to 
Mr. Horace Greeley on his return from a tour through the 
Southern States. Mr. Greeley, undoubtedly from the 
purest personal and patriotic motives, had, with other 
men of high standing, including Gerrit Smith, attached 
his name to the bail bond of Jefferson Davis, which re- 
leased the ex-president of the Confederacy from prison, 
and, in fact, freed him entirely from anything like punish- 
ment for treason. I have always admired Mr. Greeley's 
honesty and courage in doing this. Doubtless, too, an 

159 



160 POLITICAL LIFE-VIII • 

equally patriotic and honest desire to aid in bringing 
North and South together after the war led him to take 
an extensive tour through sundry Southern States. He 
had just returned from this tour and this reception was 
given him in consequence. 

It had already been noised abroad that there was a 
movement on foot to make him a candidate for the Presi- 
dency, and many who knew the characteristics of the man, 
even those who, like myself, had been greatly influenced 
by him and regarded him as by far the foremost editorial 
writer that our country had ever produced, looked upon 
this idea with incredulity. For of all patriotic men in 
the entire country who had touched public affairs Horace 
Greeley seemed the most eminently unfit for executive 
duties. He was notoriously, in business matters, the 
easy prey of many who happened to get access to him;— 
the " long-haired men and short-haired women" of the 
country seemed at times to have him entirely under their 
sway; his hard-earned money, greatly needed by himself 
and his family, was lavished upon ne 'er-do-weels and cast 
into all sorts of impracticable schemes. He made loans 
to the discarded son of the richest man whom the United 
States had at that time produced, and in every way 
showed himself an utterly incompetent judge of men. It 
was a curious fact that lofty as were his purposes, and 
noble as were his main characteristics, the best men of 
the State— men like Seward, Weed, Judge Folger, Senator 
Andrews, General Leavenworth, Elbridge Spaulding, and 
other really thoughtful, solid, substantial advisers of 
the Republican party— were disliked by him, and yet no 
other reason could be assigned than this :— that while they 
all admired him as a writer, they could not be induced to 
pretend that they considered him fit for high executive 
office, either in the State or Nation. On the other hand, 
so far as politics were concerned, his affections seemed to 
be lavished on politicians who flattered and coddled him. 
Of this the rise of Governor Fenton was a striking ex- 
ample. Doubtless there were exceptions to this rule, but 



THE GREELEY CAMPAIGN -1872 1G1 

it was the rule nevertheless. This was clearly and indeed 
comically shown at the reception given him in Union 
Square on the evening referred to. Mr. Greeley appeared 
at a front window of a house on the Broadway side and 
came out upon a temporary platform. His appearance 
is deeply stamped upon my memory. He was in a rather 
slouchy evening dress, his white hair thrown back off his 
splendid forehead, and his broad, smooth, kindly features 
as serene as the face of a big, well-washed baby. 

There was in his appearance something at the same time 
naive and impressive, and the simplicity of it was in- 
creased by a bouquet, huge and gorgeous, which some 
admirer had attached to his coat, and which forced upon 
the mind of a reflective observer the idea of a victim 
adorned for sacrifice. 

He gave scant attention to his audience in the way of 
ceremonial greeting, and plunged at once into his subject ; 
—beginning in a high, piping, falsetto voice which, for a 
few moments, was almost painful. But the value of his 
matter soon overcame the defects of his manner; the 
speech was in his best vein ; it struck me as the best, on the 
whole, I had ever heard him make, and that is say- 
ing much. Holding in his hands a little package of 
cards on which notes were jotted down, he occasionally 
cast his eyes upon them, but he evidently trusted to the 
inspiration of the hour for his phrasing, and his trust was 
not misplaced. I never heard a more simple, strong, 
lucid use of the English language than was his on that 
occasion. The speech was a very noble plea for the resto- 
ration of good feeling between North and South, with an 
effort to show that the distrust felt by the South toward 
the North was natural. In the course of it he said in 
substance : 

' ' Fellow Citizens : The people of the South have much 
reason to distrust us. We have sent among them during 
the war and since the war, to govern them, to hold office 
among them, and to eat out their substance, a number of 
worthless adventurers whom they call "carpet-baggers." 

i.-n 



162 POLITICAL LIFE-VIII 

These emissaries of ours pretend to be patriotic and pious ; 
they pull long faces and say ' Let us pray ' ; but they spell 
it p-r-e-y. The people of the South hate them, and they 
ought to hate them. ' ' 

At this we in the audience looked at each other in 
amazement; for, standing close beside Mr. Greeley, at 
that very moment, most obsequiously, was perhaps the 
worst " carpet-bagger " ever sent into the South; a man 
who had literally been sloughed off by both parties;— 
who, having been become an unbearable nuisance in New 
York politics, had been "unloaded" by Mr. Lincoln, in an 
ill-inspired moment, upon the hapless South, and who was 
now trying to find new pasture. 

But this was not the most comical thing; for Mr. 
Greeley in substance continued as follows : 

"Fellow Citizens: You know how it is yourselves. 
There are men who go to your own State Capitol, nomi- 
nally as legislators or advisers, but really to plunder and 
steal. These men in the Northern States correspond to the 
'carpet-baggers' in the Southern States, and you hate 
them and you ought to hate them." Thus speaking, Mr. 
Greeley poured out the vials of his wrath against all this 
class of people ; blissfully unconscious of the fact that on 
the other side of him stood the most notorious and cor- 
rupt lobbyist who had been known in Albany for years; — 
a man who had been chased out of that city by the sheriff 
for attempted bribery, had been obliged to remain for a 
considerable time in hiding to avoid criminal charges of 
exerting corrupt influence on legislation, and whom both 
political parties naturally disowned. Comical as all this 
was, it was pathetic to see a man like Greeley in such a 
cave of Adullam. 

During this summer of 1871 occurred the death of 
one of my dearest friends, a man who had exercised a 
most happy influence over my opinions and who had con- 
tributed much to the progress of anti-slavery ideas in 
New England and New York. This was the Rev. 
Samuel Joseph May, pastor of the Unitarian Church in 



THE GREELEY CAMPAIGN -1872 163 

Syracuse, a friend and associate of Emerson, Garrison, 
Phillips, Gerrit Smith, and one of the noblest, truest, and 
most beautiful characters I have ever known. 

Having seen the end of slavery, and being about eighty 
years of age, he felt deeply that his work was done, and 
thenceforward declared that he was happy in the idea 
that his life on this planet was soon to end. I have never 
seen, save in the case of the Hicksite Quaker at Ann 
Arbor, referred to elsewhere, such a living faith in the 
reality of another world. Again and again Mr. May said 
to me in the most cheerful way imaginable, "lamas much 
convinced of the existence of a future state as of these 
scenes about me, and, to tell you the truth, now that my 
work here is ended, I am becoming very curious to know 
what the next stage of existence is like." On the after- 
noon of the 1st of July I paid him a visit, found him much 
wearied by a troublesome chronic complaint, but con- 
tented, cheerful, peaceful as ever. 

Above him as he lay in his bed was a portrait which I 
had formerly seen in his parlor. Thereby hung a curious 
tale. Years before, at the very beginning of Mr. May's 
career, he had been a teacher in the little town of Windsor, 
Connecticut, when Miss Prudence Crandall was persecuted, 
arrested, and imprisoned for teaching colored children. 
Mr. May had taken up her case earnestly, and, with the aid 
of Mr. Lafayette Foster, afterward president of the United 
States Senate, had fought it out until the enemies of Miss 
Crandall were beaten. As a memorial of this activity of 
his, Mr. May received this large, well painted portrait of 
Miss Crandall, and it was one of his most valued pos- 
sessions. 

On the afternoon referred to, after talking about vari- 
ous other matters most cheerfully, and after I had told 
him that we could not spare him yet, that we needed him at 
least ten years longer, he laughingly said, "Can't you 
compromise on one year?" "No," I said, "nothing less 
than ten years." Thereupon he laughed pleasantly, called 
his daughter, Mrs. Wilkinson, and said, "Remember; 



164 POLITICAL LIFE-VIII 

when I am gone this portrait of Prudence Crandall is to 
go to Andrew White for Cornell University, where my 
anti-slavery books already are." As I left him, both of 
us were in the most cheerful mood, he appearing better 
than during some weeks previous. Next morning I 
learned that he had died during the night. The portrait 
of Miss Crandall now hangs in the Cornell University 
Library. 

My summer was given up partly to recreation mingled 
with duties of various sorts, including an address in honor 
of President Woolsey at the Alumni dinner at Yale and 
another at the laying of the corner stone of Syracuse 
University. 

Noteworthy at this period was a dinner with Long- 
fellow at Cambridge, and I recall vividly his showing me 
various places in the Craigie house connected with inter- 
esting passages in the life of Washington when he occu- 
pied it. 

Early in the autumn, while thus engrossed in every- 
thing but political matters, I received a letter from my 
friend Mr. A. B. Cornell, a most energetic and efficient 
man in State and national politics, a devoted supporter 
of General Grant and Senator Conkling, and afterward 
governor of the State of New York, asking me if I would 
go to the approaching State convention and accept its 
presidency. I wrote him in return expressing my reluc- 
tance, dwelling upon the duties pressing upon me in con- 
nection with the university, and asking to be excused. In 
return came a very earnest letter insisting on the impor- 
tance of the convention in keeping the Republican party 
together, and in preventing its being split into factions 
before the approaching presidential election. I had, on 
all occasions, and especially at various social gatherings 
at which political leaders were present, in New York and 
elsewhere, urged the importance of throwing aside all 
factious spirit and harmonizing the party in view of the 
coming election, and to this Mr. Cornell referred very 
earnestly. As a consequence I wrote him that if the dele- 



THE GREELEY CAMPAIGN -1872 165 

gates from New York opposed to General Grant could be 
admitted to the convention on equal terms with those who 
favored him, and if he, Mr. Cornell, and the other man- 
agers of the Grant wing of the party would agree that the 
anti-Grant forces should receive full and fair representa- 
tion on the various committees, I would accept the presi- 
dency of the convention in the interest of peace between 
the factions, and would do my best to harmonize the differ- 
ing interests in the party, but that otherwise I would not 
consent to be a member of the convention. In his answer 
Mr. Cornell fully agreed to this, and I have every reason 
to believe, indeed to know, that his agreement was kept. 
The day of the convention having arrived (September 27, 
1871), Mr. Cornell, as chairman of the Republican State 
committee, called the assemblage to order, and after a 
somewhat angry clash with the opponents of the adminis- 
tration, nominated me to the chairmanship of the con- 
vention. 

By a freak of political fortune I was separated in this 
contest from my old friend Chauncey M. Depew; but 
though on different sides of the question at issue, we sat 
together chatting pleasantly as the vote went on, neither 
of us, I think, very anxious regarding it, and when the 
election was decided in my favor he was one of those who, 
under instructions from the temporary chairman, very 
courteously conducted me to the chair. It was an immense 
assemblage, and from the first it was evident that there 
were very turbulent elements in it. Hardly, indeed, had 
I taken my seat, when the chief of the Syracuse police 
informed me that there were gathered near the platform 
a large body of Tammany roughs who had come from New 
York expressly to interfere with the convention, just as 
a few years before they had interfered in the same place 
with the convention of their own party, seriously wound- 
ing its regular chairman ; but that I need have no alarm 
at any demonstration they might make; that the police 
were fully warned and able to meet the adversary. 

In my opening speech I made an earnest plea for peace 



166 POLITICAL LIFE -VIII 

among the various factions of the party, and especially 
between those who favored and those who opposed the 
administration ; this plea was received with kindness, and 
shortly afterward came the appointment of committees. 
Of course, like every other president of such a body, I 
had to rely on the standing State committee. Hardly one 
man in a thousand coming to the presidency of a State 
convention knows enough of the individual leaders of poli- 
tics in all the various localities to distinguish between their 
shades of opinion. It was certainly impossible for me to 
know all those who, in the various counties of the State, 
favored General Grant and those who disliked him. Like 
every other president of a convention, probably without 
an exception, from the beginning to the present hour, I 
received the list of the convention committees from the 
State committee which represented the party, and I re- 
ceived this list, not only with implied, but express assur- 
ances that the agreement under which I had taken the 
chairmanship had been complied with;— namely, that the 
list represented fairly the two wings of the party in con- 
vention, and that both the Grant and the anti-Grant dele- 
gations from New York city were to be admitted on equal 
terms. 

I had no reason then, and have no reason now, to believe 
that the State committee abused my confidence. I feel sure 
now, as I felt sure then, that the committee named by me 
fairly represented the two wings of the party; but after 
their appointment it was perfectly evident that this did 
not propitiate the anti-administration wing. They were 
deeply angered against the administration by the fact that 
General Grant had taken as his adviser in regard to New 
York patronage and politics Senator Conkling rather than 
Senator Fenton. Doubtless Senator Conkling 's manner 
in dealing with those opposed to him had made many 
enemies who, by milder methods, might have been brought 
to the support of the administration. At any rate, it was 
soon clear that the anti-administration forces, recognizing 
their inferiority in point of numbers, were determined to 



THE GREELEY CAMPAIGN— 1872 1G7 

secede. This, indeed, was soon formally announced by one 
of their leaders ; but as they still continued after this decla- 
ration to take part in the discussions, the point of order 
was raised that, having formally declared their intention 
of leaving the convention, they were no longer entitled to 
take part in its deliberations. This point I ruled out, de- 
claring that I could not consider the anti-administration 
wing as outside the convention until they had left it. The 
debates grew more and more bitter, Mr. Conkling making, 
late at night, a powerful speech which rallied the forces of 
the administration and brought them victory. The anti- 
administration delegates now left the convention, but be- 
fore they did so one of them rose and eloquently tendered 
to me as president the thanks of his associates for my im- 
partiality, saying that it contrasted most honorably with 
the treatment they had received from certain other mem- 
bers of the convention. But shortly after leaving they 
held a meeting in another place, and, having evidently 
made up their minds that they must declare war against 
everybody who remained in the convention, they de- 
nounced us all alike, and the same gentleman who had 
made the speech thanking me for my fairness, and who 
was very eminent among those who were known as ' ' Tam- 
many Republicans," now made a most violent harangue 
in which he declared that a man who conducted himself 
as I had done, and who remained in such an infamous 
convention, or had anything to do with it, was "utterly 
unfit to be an instructor of youth. ' ' 

Similar attacks continued to appear in the anti-admin- 
istration papers for a considerable time afterward, and at 
first they were rather trying to me. I felt that nothing 
could be more unjust, for I had strained to the last degree 
my influence with my associates who supported General 
Grant in securing concessions to those who differed from 
us. Had these attacks been made by organs of the oppo- 
site political party, I would not have minded them; but 
being made in sundry journals which had represented the 
Republican party and were constantly read by my old 



168 POLITICAL LIFE -VIII 

friends, neighbors, and students, they naturally, for a 
time, disquieted me. One of the charges then made has 
often amused me as I have looked back upon it since, and 
is worth referring to as an example of the looseness of 
statement common among the best of American political 
journals during exciting political contests. This charge 
was that I had ''sought to bribe people to support the 
administration by offering them consulates." This was 
echoed in various parts of the State. 

The facts were as follows : An individual who had made 
some money as a sutler in connection with the army had 
obtained control of a local paper at Syracuse, and, through 
the influence thus gained, an election to the lower house of 
the State legislature. During the winter which he passed 
at Albany he was one of three or four Republicans who 
voted with the Democrats in behalf of the measures pro- 
posed by Tweed, the municipal arch-robber afterward 
convicted and punished for his crimes against the city of 
New York. Just at this particular time Tweed was at the 
height of his power, and at a previous session of the 
legislature he had carried his measures through the As- 
sembly by the votes of three or four Republicans who were 
needed in addition to the Democratic votes in order to 
give him the required majority. Many leading Republi- 
can journals had published the names of these three or 
four men with black lines around them, charging them, 
apparently justly, with having sold themselves to Tweed 
for money, and among them the person above referred 
to. Though he controlled a newspaper in Syracuse, he 
had been unable to secure renomination to the legislature, 
and, shortly afterward, in order to secure rehabilitation 
as well as pelf, sought an appointment to the Syracuse 
postmastership. Senator Conkling, mindful of the man's 
record, having opposed the appointment, and the Presi- 
dent having declined to make it, the local paper under 
control of this person turned most bitterly against the ad- 
ministration, and day after day poured forth diatribes 
against the policy and the persons of all connected with 



THE GREELEY CAMPAIGN- 1872 1G9 

the actual government at Washington, and especially 
against President Grant and Senator Conkling. 

The editor of the paper at that time was a very gifted 
young writer, an old schoolmate and friend of mine, who, 
acting under instructions from the managers of the paper, 
took a very bitter line against the administration and its 
supporters. 

About the time of the meeting of the convention this 
old friend came to me, expressed his regret at the line he 
was obliged to take, said that both he and his wife were 
sick of the whole thing and anxious to get out of it, and 
added : ' ' The only way out, that I can see, is some appoint- 
ment that will at once relieve me of all these duties, and 
in fact take me out of the country. Cannot you aid me by 
application to the senator or the President in obtaining a 

consulate V I answered him laughingly, ' ' My dear , 

I will gladly do all I can for you, not only for friendship 's 
sake, but because I think you admirably fitted for the place 
you name; but don't you think that, for a few days at 
least, while you are applying for such a position, you 
might as well stop your outrageous attacks against the 
very men from whom you hope to receive the appoint- 
ment?" 

Having said this, half in jest and half in earnest, I 
thought no more on the subject, save as to the best way of 
aiding my friend to secure the relief he desired. 

So rose the charge that I was ''bribing persons to sup- 
port the administration by offering them consulates. ' ' 

But strong friends rallied to my support. Mr. George 
"William Curtis in "Harper's Weekly," Mr. Godkin in 
"The Nation," Mr. Charles Dudley Warner and others 
in various other journals took up the cudgels in my behalf, 
and I soon discovered that the attacks rather helped than 
hurt me. They did much, indeed, to disgust me for a time 
with political life ; but I soon found that my friends, my 
students, and the country at large understood the charges, 
and that they seemed to think more rather than less of me 
on account of them. In those days the air was full of that 



170 POLITICAL LIFE-VIII 

sort of onslaught upon every one supposed to be friendly 
to General Grant, and the effect in one case was revealed 
to me rather curiously. Matthew Carpenter, of Wisconsin, 
was then one of the most brilliant members of the United 
States Senate, a public servant of whom his State was 
proud ; but he had cordially supported the administration 
and was consequently made the mark for bitter attack, day 
after day and week after week, by the opposing journals, 
and these attacks finally culminated in an attempt to base 
a very ugly scandal against him upon what was known 
among his friends to be a simple courtesy publicly ren- 
dered to a very worthy lady. The attacks and the scandal 
resounded throughout the anti-administration papers, 
their evident purpose being to defeat his reelection to the 
United States Senate. 

But just before the time for the senatorial election in 
Wisconsin, meeting a very bright and active-minded stu- 
dent of my senior class who came from that State, I asked 
him, ''What is the feeling among your people regarding 
the reelection of Senator Carpenter ? ' ' My student imme- 
diately burst into a torrent of wrath and answered : ' ' The 
people of Wisconsin will send Mr. Carpenter back to the 
Senate by an enormous majority. We will see if a gang 
of newspaper blackguards can slander one of our senators 
out of public life." The result was as my young friend 
had foretold: Mr. Carpenter was triumphantly reelected. 

While I am on this subject I may refer, as a comfort to 
those who have found themselves unjustly attacked in 
political matters, to two other notable cases within my 
remembrance. 

Probably no such virulence has ever been known day 
after day, year after year, as was shown by sundry presses 
of large circulation in their attacks on William H. Seward. 
They represented him as shady and tricky; as the lowest 
of demagogues; as utterly without conscience or ability; 
as pretending a hostility to slavery which was simply 
a craving for popularity; they refused to report his 
speeches, or, if they did report them, distorted them. He 



THE GREELEY CAMPAIGN- 1872 171 

had also incurred the displeasure of very many leaders 
of his own party, and of some of its most powerful presses, 
yet he advanced steadily from high position to high posi- 
tion, and won a lasting and most honorable place in the 
history of his country. 

The same may be said of Senator Conkling. The at- 
tacks on him in the press were bitter and almost universal ; 
yet the only visible result was that he was reelected to the 
national Senate by an increased majority. To the catas- 
trophe which some years later ended his political career, 
the onslaught by the newspapers contributed nothing; it 
resulted directly from the defects of his own great quali- 
ties and not at all from attacks made upon him from 
outside. 

Almost from the first moment of my acquaintance with 
Mr. Conkling, I had endeavored to interest him in the re- 
form of the civil service, and at least, if this was not 
possible, to prevent his actively opposing it. In this sense 
I wrote him various letters. For a time they seemed suc- 
cessful ; but at last, under these attacks, he broke all bounds 
and became the bitter opponent of the movement. In his 
powerful manner and sonorous voice he from time to time 
expressed his contempt for it. The most striking of his 
utterances on the subject was in one of the State conven- 
tions, which, being given in his deep, sonorous tones, ran 
much as follows : "When Doctor-r-r Ja-a-awnson said that 
patr-r-riotism-m was the 1-a-w-s-t r-r-refuge of a scoun- 
dr-r-rel, he ignor-r-red the enor-r-rmous possibilities of 
the word r-ref a-awr-r-rm ! ' ' 

The following spring (June 5, 1872) I attended the 
Republican National Convention at Philadelphia as a sub- 
stitute delegate. It was very interesting and, unlike the 
enormous assemblages since of twelve or fifteen thousand 
people at Chicago and elsewhere, was a really deliberative 
body. As it was held in the Academy of Music, there was 
room for a sufficient audience, while there was not room 
for a vast mob overpowering completely the members of 
the convention and preventing any real discussion at some 



172 POLITICAL LIFE-VIII 

most important junctures, as has been the case in so many 
conventions of both parties in these latter years. 

The most noteworthy features of this convention were 
the speeches of sundry colored delegates from the South. 
Very remarkable they were, and a great revelation as to 
the ability of some, at least, of their race in the former 
slave States. 

General Grant was renominated for the Presidency, 
and for the Vice-Presidency Mr. Henry Wilson of Massa- 
chusetts in place of Schuyler Colfax, who had held the po- 
sition during General Grant's first term. 

The only speeches I made during the campaign were 
one from the balcony of the Continental Hotel in Philadel- 
phia and one from the steps of the Delavan House at 
Albany, but they were perfunctory and formal. There 
was really no need of speeches, and I was longing to go at 
my proper university work. Mr. James Anthony Froude, 
the historian, had arrived from England to deliver his 
lectures before our students ; and, besides this, the univer- 
sity had encountered various difficulties which engrossed 
all my thoughts. 

General Grant's reelection was a great victory. Mr. 
Greeley had not one Northern electoral vote ; worst of all, 
he had, during the contest, become utterly broken in body 
and mind, and shortly after the election he died. 

His death was a sad ending of a career which, as a 
whole, had been so beneficent. As to General Grant, I be- 
lieve now, as I believed then, that his election was a great 
blessing, and that he was one of the noblest, purest, and 
most capable men who have ever sat in the Presidency. 
The cheap, clap-trap antithesis which has at times been 
made between Grant the soldier and Grant the statesman 
is, I am convinced, utterly without foundation. The 
qualities which made him a great soldier made him an 
effective statesman. This fact was clearly recognized 
by the American people at various times during the 
war, and especially when, at the surrender of Appomat- 
tox, he declined to deprive General Lee of his sword, 



THE GREELEY CAMPAIGN -1872 173 

and quietly took the responsibility of allowing the sol- 
diers of the Southern army to return with their horses 
to their fields to resume peaceful industry. These 
statesmanlike qualities were developed more and more 
by the great duties and responsibilities of the Presi- 
dency. His triumph over financial demagogy in his vetoes 
of the Inflation Bill, and his triumph over political dema- 
gogy in securing the treaty of Washington and the Ala- 
bama indemnity, prove him a statesman worthy to rank 
with the best of his predecessors. In view of these evi- 
dences of complete integrity and high capacity, and bear- 
ing in mind various conversations which I had with him 
during his public life down to a period just before his 
death, I feel sure that history will pronounce him not only 
a general but a statesman in the best sense of the word. 

The renomination of General Grant at the Philadelphia 
convention was the result of gratitude, respect, and convic- 
tion of his fitness. Although Mr. Greeley had the support 
of the most influential presses of the United States, and 
was widely beloved and respected as one who had borne 
the burden and heat of the day, he was defeated in obedi- 
ence to a healthy national instinct. 

Years afterward I was asked in London by one of the 
most eminent of English journalists how such a thing 
could have taken place. Said he, i ' The leading papers of 
the United States, almost without exception, were in favor 
of Mr. Greeley; how, then, did it happen that he was in 
such a hopeless minority?" I explained the matter as 
best I could, whereupon he said, "Whatever the explana- 
tion may be, it proves that the American press, by its wild 
statements in political campaigns, and especially by its 
reckless attacks upon individuals, has lost that hold upon 
American opinion which it ought to have; and, depend 
upon it, this is a great misfortune for your country/' I 
did not attempt to disprove this statement, for I knew but 
too well that there was great truth in it. 

Of my political experiences at that period I recall two : 
the first of these was making the acquaintance at Sara- , 



174 POLITICAL LIFE-VIII 

toga of Mr. Samuel J. Tilden. His political fortunes were 
then at their lowest point. With Mr. Dean Richmond of 
Buffalo, he had been one of the managers of the Demo- 
cratic party in the State, but, Mr. Richmond having died, 
the Tweed wing of the party, supported by the canal con- 
tractors, had declared war against Mr. Tilden, treated 
him with contempt, showed their aversion to him in every 
way, and, it was fully understood, had made up their 
minds to depose him. I remember walking and talking 
again and again with him under the colonnade at Congress 
Hall, and, without referring to any person by name, he 
dwelt upon the necessity of more earnest work in redeem- 
ing American politics from the management of men ut- 
terly unfit for leadership. Little did he or I foresee that 
soon afterward his arch-enemy, Tweed, then in the same 
hotel and apparently all-powerful, was to be a fugitive 
from justice, and finally to die in prison, and that he, Mr. 
Tilden himself, was to be elected governor of the State of 
New York, and to come within a hair 's-breadth of the 
presidential chair at Washington. 

The other circumstance of a political character was my 
attendance as an elector at the meeting of the Electoral 
College at Albany, which cast the vote of New York for 
General Grant. I had never before sat in such a body, and 
its proceedings interested me. As president we elected 
General Stewart L. Woodford, and as the body, after the 
formal election of General Grant to the Presidency, was 
obliged to send certificates to the governor of the State, 
properly signed and sealed, and as it had no seal of its 
own, General Woodford asked if any member had a seal 
which he would lend to the secretary for that purpose. 
Thereupon a seal-ring which Goldwin Smith had brought 
from Rome and given me was used for that purpose. It 
was an ancient intaglio. Very suitably, it bore the figure 
of a ''Winged Victory," and it was again publicly used, 
many years later, when it was affixed to the American 
signature of the international agreement made at the 
Peace Conference of The Hague. 



THE GREELEY CAMPAIGN-1872 175 

The following winter I had my first experience of ' ' Re- 
construction" in the South. Being somewhat worn with 
work, I made a visit to Florida, passing leisurely through 
the southern seaboard States, and finding at Columbia 
an old Yale friend, Governor Chamberlain, from whom I 
learned much. But the simple use of my eyes and ears 
during the journey gave me more than all else. A visit 
to the State legislature of South Carolina revealed vividly 
the new order of things. The State Capitol was a beau- 
tiful marble building, but unfinished without and dirty 
within. Approaching the hall of the House of Representa- 
tives, I found the door guarded by a negro, squalid and 
filthy. He evidently reveled in his new citizenship; his 
chair was tilted back against the wall, his feet were high 
in the air, and he was making everything nauseous about 
him with tobacco ; but he soon became obsequious and ad- 
mitted us to one of the most singular deliberative bodies 
ever known— a body composed of former landed propri- 
etors and slave-owners mixed up pell-mell with their 
former slaves and with Northern adventurers then known 
as ' ' carpet-baggers. ' ' The Southern gentlemen of the As- 
sembly were gentlemen still, and one of them, Mr. Mem- 
minger, formerly Secretary of the Treasury of the Con- 
federate States, was especially courteous to us. But soon 
all other things were lost in contemplation of "Mr. 
Speaker. ' ' He was a bright, nimble, voluble mulatto who, 
as one of the Southern gentlemen informed me, was "the 
smartest nigger God ever made." Having been elevated 
to the speakership, he magnified his office. While we were 
observing him, a gentleman of one of the most historic 
families of South Carolina, a family which had given to 
the State a long line of military commanders, governors, 
senators, and ambassadors, rose to make a motion. The 
speaker, a former slave, at once declared him out of order. 
On the member persisting in his effort, the speaker called 
out, "De genlemun frum Bufert has no right to de floh; 
de genlemun from Bufert will take his seat," and the 
former aristocrat obeyed. To this it had come at last. 



176 POLITICAL LIFE-YIII 

In the presence of this assembly, in this hall where dis- 
union really had its birth, where secession first shone out 
in all its glory, a former slave ordered a former master 
to sit down, and was obeyed. 

In Charleston the same state of things was to be seen, 
and for the first time I began to feel sympathy for 
the South. This feeling was deepened by what I saw in 
Georgia and Florida ; and yet, below it all I seemed to see 
the hand of God in history, and in the midst of it all I 
seemed to hear a deep voice from the dead. To me, seeing 
these things, there came, reverberating out of the last cen- 
tury, that prediction of Thomas Jefferson,— himself a 
slaveholder,— who, after depicting the offenses of slavery, 
ended with these words, worthy of Isaiah,— divinely in- 
spired if any ever were:— "I tremble when I remember 
that God is just. ' ' 



CHAPTER XI 

GRANT, HAYES, AND GARFIELD— 1871-1884 

/ 

AT various times after the death of Mr. Lincoln I visited 
f\ Washington, meeting many men especially influential, 
and, first of all, President Grant. Of all personages whom 
I then met he impressed me most strongly. At various 
times I talked with him at the White House, dining with 
him and seeing him occasionally in his lighter mood, but 
at no time was there the slightest diminution of his unaf- 
fected dignity. Now and then he would make some dry 
remark which showed a strong sense of humor, but in 
everything there was the same quiet, simple strength. On 
one occasion, when going to the White House, I met Pro- 
fessor Agassiz of Cambridge, and took him with me : we 
were received cordially, General Grant offering us cigars, 
as was his wont with visitors, and Agassiz genially 
smoking with him: when we had come away the great 
naturalist spoke with honest admiration of the President, 
evidently impressed by the same qualities which had 
always impressed me— his modesty, simplicity, and quiet 
force. 

I also visited him at various times in his summer cot- 
tage at Long Branch, and on one of these occasions he 
gave a bit of history which specially interested me. As 
we were taking coffee after dinner, a card was brought 
in, and the President, having glanced at it, said, ' ' Tell him 
that I cannot see him." The servant departed with the 
message, but soon returned and said, "The gentleman 

1-12. 177 



178 POLITICAL LIFE -IX 

wishes to know when he can see the President." "Tell 
him never/' said Grant. 

It turned out that the person whose name the card bore 
was the correspondent of a newspaper especially noted 
for sensation-mongering, and the conversation drifted to 
the subject of newspapers and newspaper correspondents, 
when the President told the following story, which I give 
as nearly as possible in his own words : 

"During the hottest period of the final struggle in 
Virginia, we suffered very much from the reports of news- 
paper correspondents who prowled about our camps and 
then put on the wires the information they had gained, 
which of course went South as rapidly as it went North. 
It became really serious and embarrassed us greatly. On 
this account, one night, when I had decided to make an 
important movement with a portion of the army early 
next day, I gave orders that a tent should be pitched in an 
out-of-the-way place, at the earliest possible moment in the 
morning, and notified the generals who were to take part 
in the movement to meet me there. 

"It happened that on the previous day there had come 

to the camp a newspaper correspondent named , and, 

as he bore a letter from Mr. Washburne, I treated him as 
civilly as possible. 

"At daylight next .morning, while we were assembled in 
the tent making final arrangements, one of my aides, 

Colonel , heard a noise just outside, and, going out, 

saw this correspondent lying down at full length, his ear 
under the edge of the tent, and a note-book in his 

hand. Thereupon Colonel took the correspondent 

by his other ear, lifted him to his feet, and swore to him 
a solemn oath that if he was visible in any part of the 
camp more than five minutes longer, a detachment of 
troops would be ordered out to shoot him and bury him 
there in the swamp, so that no one would ever know his 
name or burial-place. 

"The correspondent left at once," said the President, 



GRANT, HAYES, AND GARFIELD -1871-1884 179 

"and he took his revenge by writing a history of the war 
from which he left me out." 

The same characteristic which I had found at other 
meetings with Grant came out even more strongly when, 
just before the close of his term, he made me a visit at 
Cornell, where one of his sons was a student. To meet 
him I invited several of our professors and others who 
were especially prejudiced against him, and, without ex- 
ception, they afterward expressed the very feeling which 
had come over me after my first conversation with him— 
surprise at the revelation of his quiet strength and his 
knowledge of public questions then before the country. 

During a walk on the university grounds he spoke to me 
of the Santo Domingo matter. 1 He said : ' ' The annexation 
question is doubtless laid aside for the present, but the time 
will come when the country will have occasion to regret 
that it was disposed of without adequate discussion. As I 
am so soon to leave the presidency, I may say to you now 
that one of my main thoughts in regard to the annexation 
of the island has been that it might afford a refuge for the 
negroes of the South in case anything like a war of races 
should ever arise in the old slave States. ' ' He then alluded 
to the bitter feeling between the two races which was then 
shown in the South, and which was leading many of the 
blacks to take refuge in Kansas and other northwestern 
States, and said, "If such a refuge as Santo Domingo 
were open to them, their former masters would soon find 
that they have not the colored population entirely at their 
mercy, and would be obliged to compromise with them on 
far more just terms than would otherwise be likely." 

The President said this with evidently deep conviction, 
and it seemed to me a very thoughtful and far-sighted 
view of the possibilities and even probabilities involved. 

During another walk, in speaking of the approaching 
close of his second presidential term, he said that he found 
himself looking forward to it with the same longing which 

1 See my chapter on Santo Domingo experiences. 



/ 



180 POLITICAL LIFE -IX 

he had formerly had as a cadet at West Point when look- 
ing forward to a furlough. 

I have never believed that the earnest effort made by 
his friends at Chicago to nominate him for a third term 
was really prompted by him, or that he originally desired 
it. It always seemed to me due to the devotion of friends 
who admired his noble qualities, and thought that the 
United States ought not to be deprived of them in obe- 
dience to a tradition, in this case, more honored in the 
breach than in the observance. 

I may add here that, having seen him on several con- 
vivial occasions, and under circumstances when, if ever, 
he would be likely to indulge in what was understood to 
have been, in his early life, an unfortunate habit, I never 
saw him betray the influence of alcohol in the slightest 
degree. 

Shortly after General Grant laid down his high office, 
he made his well-known journey to Europe and the East, 
and I had the pleasure of meeting him at Cologne and 
traveling up the Rhine with him. We discussed American 
affairs all day long. He had during the previous week 
been welcomed most cordially to the hospitalities of two 
leading sovereigns of Europe, and had received endless 
attentions from the most distinguished men of England 
and Belgium, but in conversation he never, in the slightest 
degree, referred to any of these experiences. He seemed 
not to think of them; his heart was in matters pertain- 
ing to his own country. He told me much regarding his 
administration, and especially spoke with the greatest 
respect and affection of his Secretary of State, Mr. Ham- 
ilton Fish. 

Somewhat later I again met him in Paris, had several 
walks and talks with him in which he discussed American 
affairs, and I remember that he dwelt with especial admi- 
ration, and even affection, upon his colleagues Sherman 
and Sheridan. 

I trust that it may not be considered out of place if, in 
this retrospect, which is intended, first of all, for my 



GRANT, HAYES, AND GARFIELD-1871-1884 181 

children and grandchildren, I state that a personal fact, 
which was known to many from other sources, was con- 
firmed to me in one of these conversations : General Grant 
informing me, as he had previously informed my wife, that 
he had fully purposed to name me as Secretary of State 
had Mr. Fish carried out his intention of resigning. When 
he told me this, my answer was that I considered it a very 
fortunate escape for us both; that my training had not 
fitted me for such duties ; that my experience in the diplo- 
matic service had then been slight; that I had no proper 
training as a lawyer ; that my knowledge of international 
law was derived far more from the reading of books than 
from its application ; and that I doubted my physical abil- 
ity to bear the pressure for patronage which converged 
upon the head of the President's cabinet. 

In the Washington of those days my memory also re- 
calls vividly a dinner with Senator Conkling at which I 
met a number of interesting men, and among them Gov- 
ernor Seymour, who had been the candidate opposed to 
Grant during his first presidential campaign; Senator 
Anthony, Senator Edmunds, the former Vice-President 
Mr. Hamlin, Senator Carpenter, and others. Many good 
stories were told, and one amused me especially, as it was 
given with admirable mimicry by Senator Carpenter. He 
described an old friend of his, a lawyer, who, coming be- 
fore one of the higher courts with a very doubtful case, 
began his plea as follows : ' ' May it please the court, there 
is only one point in this case favorable to my client, but 
that, may it please the court, is a chink in the common law 
which has been worn smooth by the multitude of scoun- 
drels who have escaped through it." 

During the year 1878 I was sent as an honorary com- 
missioner from the State of New York to the Paris Expo- 
sition, and shall give a more full account of this period in 
another chapter. Suffice it that, having on my return 
prepared my official report on the provision for political 
education made by the different governments of Europe, 
I became more absorbed than ever in university affairs, 



182 POLITICAL LIFE-IX 

keeping aloof as much as possible from politics. But in 
the political campaign of 1878 I could not but be inter- 
ested. It was different from any other that I had known, 
for the "Greenback Craze" bloomed out as never before 
and seemed likely to poison the whole country. Great 
hardships had arisen from the fact that debts which had 
been made under a depreciated currency had to be paid 
in money of greater value. Men who, in what were known 
as "flush times," had bought farms, paid down half 
the price, and mortgaged them for the other half, found 
now, when their mortgages became due, that they could 
not sell the property for enough to cover the lien upon it. 
Besides this, the great army of speculators throughout 
the country found the constant depreciation of prices 
bringing them to bankruptcy. In the cry for more green- 
backs,— that is, for continued issues of paper money,— 
demagogism undoubtedly had a large part ; but there were 
many excellent men who were influenced by it, and among 
them Peter Cooper of New York, founder of the great 
institution which bears his name, one of the purest and 
best men I have ever known. 

This cry for more currency was echoed from one end 
of the country to the other. In various States, and espe- 
cially in Ohio, it seemed to carry everything before it, 
nearly all the public men of note, including nearly all the 
leading Democrats and very many of the foremost Repub- 
licans, bowing down to it, the main exceptions being John 
Sherman and Garfield. 

In central New York the mania seemed, early in the sum- 
mer, to take strong hold. In Syracuse John Wieting, an 
amazingly fluent speaker with much popular humor, who 
had never before shown any interest in politics, took the 
stump for an unlimited issue of government paper cur- 
rency, received the nomination to Congress from the 
Democrats and sundry independent organizations, and 
for a time seemed to carry everything before him. A 
similar state of things prevailed at Ithaca and the region 
round about Cayuga Lake. Two or three people much 



GRANT, HAYES, AND GARFIELD -1871-1884 183 

respected in the community came out for this doctrine, 
and, having a press under their control, their influence 
seemed likely to be serious. Managers of the Republican 
organization in the State seemed at first apathetic; but at 
last they became alarmed and sent two speakers through 
these disaffected districts— only two, but each, in his way, 
a master. The first of them, in order of time, was Senator 
Roscoe Conkling, and he took as his subject the National 
Banking System. This had been for a considerable time 
one of the objects of special attack by uneasy and unsuc- 
cessful people throughout the entire country. As a matter 
of fact, the national banking system, created during the 
Civil War by Secretary Chase and his advisers, was one of 
the most admirable expedients ever devised in any coun- 
try. Up to the time of its establishment the whole country 
had suffered enormously from the wretched currency sup- 
plied from the State banks. Even in those States where 
the greatest precaution was taken to insure its redemption, 
all of it was, in time of crisis or panic, fluctuating and much 
of it worthless. But in other States the case was even 
worse. I can recall perfectly that through my boyhood 
and young manhood every merchant and shopkeeper kept 
on his table what was called a "bank-note detector," 
which, when any money was tendered him, he was obliged 
to consult in order to know, first, whether the bill was a 
counterfeit, as it frequently was ; secondly, whether it was 
on a solvent bank; and thirdly, if good, what discount 
should be deducted from the face of it. Under this system 
bank-notes varied in value from week to week, and even 
from day to day, with the result that all buying and selling 
became a sort of gambling. 

When, then, Mr. Chase established the new system of 
national banks so based that every bill-holder had security 
for the entire amount which his note represented, so con- 
trolled that a bill issued from any little bank in the re- 
motest State, or even in the remotest corner of a Territory, 
was equal to one issued by the richest bank in Wall 
Street, so engraved that counterfeiting was practically im- 



184 POLITICAL LIFE-IX 

possible, there was an immense gain to every man, woman, 
and child in the country. 

To appreciate this gain one must have had experience 
of the older system. I remember well the panic of 1857, 
which arose while I was traveling in eastern and northern 
New England, and that, arriving in the city of Salem, 
Massachusetts, having tendered, in payment of my hotel 
bill, notes issued by a leading New York city bank, guar- 
anteed under what was known as the ' ' Safety Fund Sys- 
tem," they were refused. The result was that I had to 
leave my wife at the hotel, go to Boston, and there manage 
to get Massachusetts money. 

But this was far short of the worst. Professor Roberts 
of Cornell University once told me that, having in those 
days collected a considerable debt in one of the Western 
States, he found the currency so worthless that he at- 
tempted to secure New York funds, but that the rate of 
exchange was so enormous that, as the only way of saving 
anything, he bought a large quantity of cheap clothing, 
shipped it to the East, and sold it for what it would bring. 

As to the way in which the older banking operations 
were carried on in some of the Western States, Gov- 
ernor Felch of Michigan once gave me some of his ex- 
periences as a bank examiner, and one of them especially 
amused me. He said that he and a brother examiner made 
an excursion through the State in a sleigh with a pair of 
good horses in order to inspect the various banks estab- 
lished in remote villages and hamlets which had the power 
of issuing currency based upon the specie contained in 
their vaults. After visiting a few of these, and rinding 
that each had the amount of specie required by law, the 
examiners began to note a curious similarity between the 
specie packages in these different banks, and before long 
their attention was drawn to another curious fact, which 
was that wherever they went they were preceded by a 
sleigh drawn by especially fleet horses. On making a care- 
ful examination, they found that this sleigh bore from 
bank to bank a number of kegs of specie sufficient to enable 



GRANT, HAYES, AND GARFIELD -1871-1884 185 

each bank in its turn to show the examiners a temporary 
basis in hard money for its output of paper. 

Such was the state of things which the national banks 
remedied, and the system had the additional advantage of 
being elastic, so that any little community which needed 
currency had only to combine its surplus capital and es- 
tablish a bank of issue. 

But throughout the country there were, as there will 
doubtless always be, a considerable number of men who, not 
being able to succeed themselves, distrusted and disliked 
the successful. There was also a plentiful supply of dema- 
gogues skilful in appealing to the prejudices of the igno- 
rant, envious, or perverse, and as a result came a cry 
against the national banks. 

In Mr. Conkling's Ithaca speech (1878), he argued the 
question with great ability and force. He had a sledge- 
hammer way which broke down all opposition, and he ex- 
ulted in it. One of his favorite tactics, which greatly 
amused his auditors, was to lead some prominent gainsayer 
in his audience to interrupt him, whereupon, in the bland- 
est way possible, he would invite him to come forward, urge 
him to present his views, even help him to do so, and then, 
having gradually entangled him in his own sophistries and 
made him ridiculous, the senator would come down upon 
him with arguments— cogent, pithy, sarcastic— much like 
the fist of a giant upon a mosquito. 

In whatever town Mr. Conkling argued the question of 
the national banks, that subject ceased to be a factor in 
politics: it was settled; his attacks upon the anti-bank 
demagogues annihilated their arguments among thinking 
men, and his sarcasm made them ridiculous among un- 
thinking men. This was the sort of thing which he did 
best. While utterly deficient in constructive power, his de- 
structive force was great indeed, and in this campaign it 
was applied, as it was not always applied, for the advan- 
tage of the country. 

The other great speaker in the campaign was General 
James A. Garfield, then a member of the House of Repre- 



186 POLITICAL LIFE-IX 

sentatives. My acquaintance with him had begun several 
years before at Syracuse, when my old school friend, his 
college mate, Charles Elliot Fitch, brought him into my li- 
brary. My collection of books was even at that date very 
large, and Garfield, being delighted with it, soon revealed 
his scholarly qualities. It happened that not long before 
this I had bought in London several hundred volumes from 
the library left by the historian Buckle, very many of them 
bearing copious annotations in his own hand. Garfield 
had read Buckle's "History of Civilization in England" 
with especial interest, and when I presented to him and 
discussed with him some of these annotated volumes, there 
began a friendly relation between us which ended only 
with his life. 

I also met him under less favorable circumstances. 
Happening to be in Washington at the revelation of the 
Credit Mobilier operations, I found him in the House of 
Bepresentatives, and evidently in the depths of suffering. 
An effort was making to connect him with the scandal, and 
while everything I know of him convinces me that he was 
not dishonest, he had certainly been imprudent. This he 
felt, and he asked me, in an almost heart-broken tone, if 
I really believed that this had forever destroyed his influ- 
ence in the country. I answered that I believed nothing 
of the kind; that if he came out in a straightforward, 
manly way, without any of the prevarication which had so 
greatly harmed some others, he would not be injured, and 
the result showed that this advice was good. 

On our arrival at the great hall in Ithaca (October 28, 
1878), we found floor and stage packed in every part. 
Never had a speaker a better audience. There were present 
very many men of all parties anxious to hear the currency 
question honestly discussed, and among them many of the 
more thoughtful sort misled by the idea that a wrong had 
been done to the country in the restoration of the currency 
to a sound basis ; and there was an enormous attendance 
of students from the university. 

As Garfield began he showed the effects of fatigue from 



GRANT, HAYES, AND GARFIELD -1871-1884 187 

the many speeches he had been making for weeks,— morn- 
ing, noon, and night; but soon he threw himself heartily 
into the subject, and of all the thousands of political 
speeches I have heard it was the most effective. It was 
eloquent, but it was far more than that; it was honestly 
argumentative ; there was no sophistry of any sort ; every 
subject was taken up fairly and every point dealt with 
thoroughly. One could see the supports of the Greenback 
party vanishing as he went on. His manner was the very 
opposite of Mr. Conkling's: it was kindly, hearty, as of 
neighbor with neighbor,— indeed, every person present, 
even if greenbacker or demagogue, must have said within 
himself, "This man is a friend arguing with friends; he 
makes me his friend, and now speaks to me as such. ' ' 

The main line of his argument finished, there came some- 
thing even finer ; for, inspired by the presence of the great 
mass of students, he ended his speech with an especial 
appeal to them. Taking as his text the noted passage in 
the letter written by Macaulay to Henry Randall, the biog- 
rapher of Jefferson,— the letter in which Macaulay prophe- 
sied destruction to the American Republic when poverty 
should pinch and discontent be wide-spread in the country, 
—he appealed to these young men to see to it that this 
prophecy should not come true ; he asked them to follow in 
this, as in similar questions, their reason and not their prej- 
udices, and from this he went on with a statement of 
the motives which ought to govern them and the line they 
ought to pursue in the effort to redeem their country. 

Never was speech more successful. It carried the entire 
audience, and left in that region hardly a shred of the 
greenback theory. When the election took place it was ob- 
served that in those districts where Conkling and Garfield 
had spoken, the greenback heresy was annihilated, while 
in other districts which had been counted as absolutely sure 
for the Republican party, and to which, therefore, these 
orators had not been sent, there was a great increase in 
the vote for currency inflation. 

I have often alluded to this result as an answer to those 



188 POLITICAL LIFE-IX 

who say that speaking produces no real effect on the con- 
victions of men regarding party matters. Some speaking 
does not, but there is a kind of speaking which does, and 
of this were these two masterpieces, so different from 
each other in matter and manner, and yet converging 
upon the same points, intellectual and moral. 

Before I close regarding Garfield, it may be well to give 
a few more recollections of him. The meeting ended, we 
drove to my house on the university grounds, and shortly 
before our arrival he asked me, "How did you like my 
speech?" I answered: "Garfield, I have known you too 
long and think too highly of you to flatter you ; but I will 
simply say what I would say under oath : it was the best 
speech I ever heard." This utterance of mine was delib- 
erate, expressing my conviction, and he was evidently 
pleased with it. 

Having settled down in front of the fire in my library, 
we began to discuss the political situation, and his talk 
remains to me among the most interesting things of my 
life. He said much regarding the history of the currency 
question and his relations to it, and from this ran rapidly 
and suggestively through a multitude of other questions 
and the relations of public men to them. One thing which 
struck me was his judicially fair and even kindly estimates 
of men who differed from him. Very rarely did he speak 
harshly or sharply of any one, differing in this greatly 
from Mr. Conkling, who, in all his conversations, and es- 
pecially in one at that same house not long before, seemed 
to consider men who differed from him as enemies of the 
human race. 

Under Mr. Hayes, the successor of General Grant in the 
Presidency, I served first as a commissioner at the Paris 
Exposition, and then as minister to Germany. Both these 
services will be discussed in the chapters relating to my 
diplomatic life, but I may refer briefly to my acquaintance 
with him at this period. 

I had met him but once previously, and that was during 
his membership of Congress when he came to enter his son 



GRANT, HAYES, AND GARFIELD -1871-1884 189 

at Cornell. I had then been most favorably impressed by 
his large, sincere, manly way. On visiting Washington to 
receive my instructions before going to Berlin, I saw him 
several times, and at each meeting my respect for him was 
increased. Driving to Arlington, walking among the sol- 
diers ' graves there, standing in the portico of General Lee's 
former residence, and viewing from the terrace the Capitol 
in the distance, he spoke very nobly of the history we had 
both personally known, of the sacrifices it had required, 
and of the duties which it now imposed. At his dinner- 
table I heard him discuss with his Secretary of State, Mr. 
Evarts, a very interesting question— the advisability of 
giving members of the cabinet seats in the Senate and 
House of Representatives, as had been arranged in the 
constitution of the so-called Confederate States; but of 
this I shall speak in another chapter. 

It should further be said regarding Mr. Hayes that, while 
hardly any President was ever so systematically denounced 
and depreciated, he was one of the truest and best men 
who has ever held our Chief Magistracy. I remember, 
just at the close of his administration, dining with an 
eminent German statesman who said to me : "I have 
watched the course of your President with more and 
more surprise. We have been seeing constantly in our 
German newspapers extracts from American journals 
holding up your President to contempt as an ignoramus, 
but more and more I have seen that he is one of the most 
substantial, honest, and capable Presidents that you have 
had." 

This opinion was amply justified by what I saw of Mr. 
Hayes after the close of his Presidency. Twice I met him 
during conferences at Lake Mohonk, at which matters re- 
lating to the improvement of the freedmen and Indians 
were discussed, and in each he took broad, strong, and 
statesmanlike views based on thoughtful experience and 
permeated by honesty. 

I also met him at a great public meeting at Cleveland, 
where we addressed some four thousand people from the 



190 POLITICAL LIFE-IX 

same platform, and again I was impressed by his manly, 
far-seeing grasp of public questions. 

As to my after relations with Garfield, I might speak of 
various pleasant interviews, but will allude to just one in- 
cident which has a pathetic side. During my first residence 
in Germany as minister of the United States, I one day 
received a letter from him asking me to secure for him the 
best editions of certain leading Greek and Latin classics, 
adding that it had long been his earnest desire to re-read 
them, and that now, as he had been elected to the United 
States Senate, he should have leisure to carry out his pur- 
pose. I had hardly sent him what he desired when the 
news came that he had been nominated to the Presidency, 
and so all his dream of literary leisure vanished. A few 
months later came the news of his assassination. 

My term of service as minister in Berlin being ended, I 
arrived in America in September, 1881, and, in accordance 
with custom, went to present my respects to the new Presi- 
dent and his Secretary of State. They were both at Long 
Branch. Mr. Blaine I saw and had with him a very inter- 
esting conversation, but President Garfield I could not see. 
His life was fast ebbing out, and a week later, on Sunday 
morning, I heard the bells tolling and knew that his last 
struggle was over. 

So closed a career which, in spite of some defects, was 
beautiful and noble. Great hopes had been formed regard- 
ing his Presidency, and yet, on looking back over his life, 
I have a strong feeling that his assassination was a service 
rendered to his reputation. I know from those who had 
full information that during his campaign for the Presi- 
dency he had been forced to make concessions and pledges 
which would have brought great trouble upon him had he 
lived through his official term. Gifted and good as he 
was, advantage had been taken of his kindly qualities, and 
he would have had to pay the penalty. 

It costs me a pang to confess my opinion that the admin- 
istration of Mr. Arthur, a man infinitely his inferior in 
nearly all the qualities which men most justly admire, was 



GRANT, HAYES, AND GARFIELD -1871-1884 191 

far better than the administration which Mr. Garfield 
would have been allowed to give to the country. 

Upon my return to the university I was asked by my 
fellow-citizens of Ithaca in general, as also by the univer- 
sity faculty and students, to give the public address at the 
celebration of President Garfield's funeral. This I did, 
and never with a deeper feeling of loss. 

One thing in the various tributes to him had struck me 
painfully: Throughout the whole country his career was 
constantly referred to in funeral addresses as showing 
how a young American under all the disadvantages of 
poverty could rise to the highest possible position. I have 
always thought that such statements, as they are usually 
presented, are injurious to the character and lowering to 
the aspirations of young men. I took pains, therefore, to 
show that while Garfield had risen under the most dis- 
couraging circumstances from complete poverty, his rise 
was due to something other than mere talent and exertion 
—that it was the result of talent and exertion originating 
in noble instincts and directed to worthy ends. Garfield's 
life proves this abundantly, and whatever may have been 
his temporary weakness under the fearful pressure 
brought upon him toward the end of his career, these in- 
stincts and purposes remained his main guiding influences 
from first to last. 



CHAPTER XII 

ARTHUR, CLEVELAND, AND BLAINE— 1881-1884 

THE successor of Garfield, President Arthur, I had met 
frequently in my old days at Albany. He was able, 
and there never was the slightest spot upon his integrity ; 
but in those early days nobody dreamed that he was to at- 
tain any high distinction. He was at that time charged 
with the main military duties under the governor ; later he 
became collector of the port of New York, and in both posi- 
tions showed himself honest and capable. He was lively, 
jocose, easy-going, with little appearance of devotion to 
work, dashing off whatever he had to do with ease and 
accuracy. At various dinner-parties and social gather- 
ings, and indeed at sundry State conventions, where I met 
him, he seemed, more than anything else, a bon vivant, 
facile and good-natured. 

His nomination to the Vice-Presidency, which on the 
death of Garfield led him to the Presidency, was very curi- 
ous, and an account of it given me by an old friend who 
had previously been a member of the Garfield cabinet and 
later an ambassador in Europe, was as follows : 

After the defeat of the "Stalwarts," who had fought 
so desperately for the renomination of General Grant at 
the Chicago Convention of 1880, the victorious side of the 
convention determined to concede to them, as an olive- 
branch, the Vice-Presidency, and with this intent my in- 
formant and a number of other delegates who had been 
especially active in preventing Grant's renomination went 
to the room of the New York delegation, which had 

192 



ARTHUR, CLEVELAND, AND BLAINE -1881-1884 193 

taken the leading part in his support, knocked at the door, 
and called for Mr. Levi P. Morton, previously a member 
of Congress, and, several years later, Vice-President of 
the United States and Governor of New York. Mr. Morton 
came out into the corridor, and thereupon the visitors said 
to him, ' ' We wish to give the Vice-Presidency to New York 
as a token of good will, and you are the man who should 
take it; don't fail to accept it." Mr. Morton answered 
that he had but a moment before, in this conference 
of his delegation, declined the nomination. At this the 
visitors said, "Go back instantly and tell them that you 
have reconsidered and will accept; we will see that the 
convention nominates you. ' ' Mr. Morton started to follow 
this advice, but was just too late: while he was outside the 
door he had been taken at his word, the place which he 
had declined had been offered to General Arthur, he had 
accepted it, and so the latter and not Mr. Morton became 
President of the United States. 

Up to the time when the Presidency devolved upon him, 
General Arthur had shown no qualities which would have 
suggested him for that high office, and I remember viv- 
idly that when the news of Garfield's assassination ar- 
rived in Berlin, where I was then living as minister, my 
first overwhelming feeling was not, as I should have ex- 
pected, horror at the death of Garfield, but stupefaction 
at the elevation of Arthur. It was a common saying of 
that time among those who knew him best, ' ' ' Chef Arthur 
President of the United States! Good God!" But the 
change in him on taking the Presidency was amazing. Up 
to that time he had been known as one of Mr. Conkling's 
henchmen, though of the better sort. As such he had held 
the collectorship of the port of New York, and as such, 
during his occupancy of the Vice-Presidency, he had vis- 
ited Albany and done his best, though in vain, to secure 
Mr. Conkling's renomination ; but immediately on his ele- 
vation to the Presidency all this was changed, and there is 
excellent authority for the statement that when Mr. Conk- 
ling wished him to continue, as President, in the subservi- 

L— 13 



194 POLITICAL LIFE-X 

ent position which he had taken as Vice-President, Mr. 
Arthur had refused, and when taxed with ingratitude he 
said: "No. For the Vice-Presidency I was indebted to 
Mr. Conkling, but for the Presidency of the United States 
my debt is to the Almighty. ' ' 

The new President certainly showed this spirit in his 
actions. Rarely has there been a better or more dignified 
administration ; the new Secretary of State, Mr. Freling- 
huysen, was in every respect fitted for his office, and the 
other men whom Mr. Arthur summoned about him were 
satisfactory. 

Although I had met him frequently, and indeed was on 
cordial terms with him before his elevation to the Presi- 
dency, I never met him afterward. During his whole ad- 
ministration my duties in connection with Cornell Uni- 
versity completely absorbed me. I was one of the last 
university presidents who endeavored to unite profes- 
sorial with executive duties, and the burden was heavy. 
The university had made at that period its first great 
sale of lands, and this involved a large extension of 
its activity; the famous Fiske lawsuit, involving nearly 
two millions of dollars, had come on; there was every 
sort of detail requiring attention at the university it- 
self, and addresses must be given in various parts of 
the country, more especially before alumni associations, 
to keep them in proper relations with the institution; 
so that I was kept completely out of politics, was hardly 
ever in Washington during this period, and never at the 
White House. 

The only matter which connected me with politics at all 
was my conviction, which deepened more and more, as 
to the necessity of reform in the civil service ; and on this 
subject I conferred with Mr. Dorman B. Eaton, Mr. John 
Jay, and others at various times, and prepared an article 
for the ' ' North American Review ' ' in which I presented 
not only the general advantages of civil service reform, 
but its claims upon men holding public office. My main 
effort was to show, what I believed then and believe still 



ARTHUR, CLEVELAND, AND BLAINE— 1881-1884 195 

more strongly now, that, evil as the whole spoils system 
was in its effects on the country, it was quite as vexatious 
and fertile in miseries and disappointments to political 
leaders. In the natural order of things, where there is no 
spoils system, and where the bestowal of offices is not in the 
hands of senators, representatives, and the like, these sen- 
ators and representatives, when once elected, have time to 
discharge their duties, and with very little pains can main- 
tain their hold upon their constituents as long as they 
please. The average man, when he has cast his vote for a 
candidate and sees that candidate elected, takes an interest 
in him; the voter, feeling that he has, in a certain sense, 
made an investment in the man thus elected, is naturally 
inclined to regard him favorably and to continue him in 
office. But with the spoils system, no sooner is a candidate 
elected than, as has been well observed, for every office 
which he bestows he makes ; ' ninety-nine enemies and one 
ingrate." The result is that the unsuccessful candidates 
for appointment return home bent on taking revenge by 
electing another person at the end of the present incum- 
bent's term, and hence comes mainly the wretched system 
of rapid rotation in office, which has been in so many 
ways injurious to our country. 

This and other points I urged, but the evil was too 
deeply seated. Time was required to remove all doubts 
which were raised. I found with regret that my article 
had especially incurred the bitter dislike of my old adviser, 
Thurlow Weed, the great friend of Mr. Seward and former 
autocrat of Whig and Republican parties in the State of 
NewYork. Being entirely of the old school, he could not im- 
agine the government carried on without the spoils system. 

On one of my visits to New York in the interest of this 
reform, I met at dinner Mr. William M. Evarts, then at the 
head of the American bar, who had been Secretary of 
State under Mr. Hayes, and who was afterward senator 
from the State of New York. I had met him frequently 
before and heard much of his brilliant talk, and especially 
his admirable stories of all sorts. 



196 POLITICAL LIFE-X 

But on this occasion Mr. Evarts surpassed himself. I 
recall a series of witty repartees and charming illustra- 
tions, but will give merely one of the latter. Something 
was said of people's hobbies, whereupon Mr. Evarts said 
that a gentleman visiting a lunatic asylum went into a 
room where several patients were assembled, and saw one 
of them astride a great dressing-trunk, holding fast to a 
rope drawn through the handle, seesawing and urging it 
forward as if it were a horse at full speed. The visitor, 
to humor the patient, said, "That 's a fine horse you 
are riding." "Why, no," said the patient, "this is not 
a horse." "What is it, then?" asked the visitor. The 
patient answered, "It 's a hobby." "But," said the 
visitor, "what 's the difference between a horse and a 
hobby?" "Why," said the patient, "there 's an enor- 
mous difference; a horse you can get off from, a hobby 
you can't." 

As to civil-service reform, my efforts to convert leading 
Republicans by personal appeals were continued, and in 
some cases with good results ; but I found it very difficult 
to induce party leaders to give up the immediate and direct 
exercise of power which the spoils system gave them. Es- 
pecially was it difficult with sundry editors of leading 
papers and party managers; but time has wrought upon 
them, and some of those who were most obdurate in those 
days are doing admirable work in these. The most serious 
effort I ever made was to convert my old friend and class- 
mate, Thomas C. Piatt, the main manager and, as he 
was called, the "boss" of the Republican party in the 
State of New York, a man of great influence through- 
out the Union. He treated me civilly, but evidently consid- 
ered me a "crank." He, like Mr. Thurlow Weed, was 
unable to understand how a party could be conducted 
without the promise of spoils for the victors ; but I have 
lived to see him take a better view. As I write these lines 
word comes that his influence is thrown in favor of the bill 
for reforming the civil service of the State of New York, 
championed by my nephew, Mr. Horace White, a member 



ARTHUR, CLEVELAND, AND BLAINE-1881-1884 197 

of the present State Senate, and favored by Colonel Roose- 
velt, the governor. , 

It was upon a civil-service errand in Philadelphia that 
I met, after a long separation, my old friend and classmate 
Wayne MacVeagh. He had been minister to Constanti- 
nople, Attorney-General in the Garfield cabinet, and, at a 
later period, ambassador at Rome. At this period he had 
returned to practise his profession in Philadelphia, and at 
his hospitable table I met a number of interesting men, 
and on one occasion sat next an eminent member of 
the Philadelphia bar, Judge Biddle. A subject happened 
to come up in which I had taken great interest, namely, 
American laxity in the punishment of crime, and especially 
the crime of murder, whereupon Judge Biddle dryly re- 
marked : ' ' The taking of life, after due process of law, as 
a penalty for murder, seems to be the only form of taking 
life to which the average American has any objection." 

In the autumn of 1882 came a tremendous reverse for 
the Republican party. There was very wide-spread dis- 
gust at the apparent carelessness of those in power regard- 
ing the redemption of joledges for reforms. Judge Folger, 
who had been nominated to the governorship of New 
York, had every qualification for the place, but an opinion 
had widely gained ground that President Arthur, who had 
called Judge Folger into his cabinet as Secretary of the 
Treasury, was endeavoring to interfere with the politics 
of the State, and to put Judge Folger into the governor's 
chair. There was a suspicion that "the machine" was 
working too easily and that some of its wheels were of a 
very bad sort. All this, coupled with slowness in redeem- 
ing platform pledges, brought on the greatest disaster the 
Republican party had ever experienced. In November, 
1882, Mr. Cleveland was elected governor by the most 
enormous majority ever known, and the defeat extended 
not only through the State of New York, but through a 
number of other States. It was bitter medicine, but, as it 
afterward turned out, very salutary. 

Just after this election, being in New York to deliver an 



198 POLITICAL LIFE-X 

address before the Geographical Society on the subject of 
"The New Germany" (December 27, 1882), I met a num- 
ber of distinguished men in politics at the table of General 
Cullom, formerly the head of the West Point Academy. 
There was much interesting talk, and some significant 
political facts were brought out; but the man who inter- 
ested me most was my next neighbor at table, General 
McDowell. 

He was an old West Pointer, and had planned the 
first battle of Bull Run, when our troops were over- 
whelmingly defeated, the capital put in peril, and the 
nation humiliated at home and abroad. There is no 
doubt now that McDowell's plans were excellent, but 
the troops were raw volunteers, with little knowledge of 
their officers and less confidence in them; and, as a re- 
sult, when, like the men in the "Biglow Papers," they 
found "why bagonets is peaked," there was a panic, just 
as there was in the first battles of the French Revolution. 
Every man distrusted every other man ; there was a gen- 
eral outcry, and all took flight. I remember doing what 
I could in those days to encourage those who looked with 
despair on the flight from the battle-field of Bull Run, by 
pointing out to them exactly similar panics and flights 
in the first battles of the soldiers who afterward became 
the Grande Armee and marched triumphantly over Eu- 
rope. 

But of one thing the American people felt certain in 
those days, and that was that at Bull Run "General 
McDowell was drunk." This assertion was loudly made, 
widely spread, never contradicted, and generally believed. 
I must confess now with shame that I was one of those who 
were so simple-minded as to take this newspaper story as 
true. On this occasion, sitting next General McDowell, I 
noticed that he drank only water, taking no wine of any 
sort; and on my calling his attention to the wines of our 
host as famous, he answered, ' ' No doubt ; but I never take 
anything but water. ' ' I answered, ' ' General, how long has 
that been your rule V ' He replied, ' ' Always since my boy- 



ARTHUR, CLEVELAND, AND BLAINE-1881-1884 j 199 

hood. At that time I was sent to a military school at 
Troyes in France, and they gave us so much sour wine 
that I vowed that if I ever reached America again no 
drink but water should ever pass my lips, and I have kept 
to that resolution." 

Of course this was an enormous surprise to me, but 
shortly afterward I asked various army officers regarding 
the matter, and their general answer was: "Why, of 
course; all of us know that McDowell is the only officer 
in the army who never takes anything but water." 

And this was the man who was widely believed by 
the American people to have lost the battle of Bull Run 
because he was drunk! 

Another remembrance of this period is a dinner with 
Mr. George Jones, of the "New York Times," who gave 
me a full account of the way in which his paper came into 
possession of the documents revealing the Tammany 
frauds, and how, despite enormous bribes and bitter 
threats, the "Times" persisted in publishing the papers, 
and so brought the Tweed regime to destruction. 

Of political men, the most noted whom I met in those 
days was Governor Cleveland. He was little known, but 
those of us who had been observant of public affairs knew 
that he had shown sturdy honesty and courage, first as 
sheriff of the county of Erie, and next as mayor of Buffalo, 
and that, most wonderful of all, he had risen above party 
ties and had appointed to office the best men he could find, 
even when some of them were earnest Republicans. 

In June of 1883 he visited the university as an ex-officio 
trustee, laid the corner-stone of the chapel above the re- 
mains of Ezra Cornell, and gave a brief address. It was 
short, but surprised me by its lucidity and force. This 
being done, I conducted him to the opening of the new 
chemical laboratory. He was greatly interested in it, and 
it was almost pathetic to note his evident regret that he 
had never had the advantage of such instruction. I 
learned afterward that he was classically prepared to en- 
ter college, but that his father, a poor country clergyman, 



200 POLITICAL LIFE-X 

being unable to defray bis expenses, tbe young man de- 
termined to strike out for bimself, and so began one of 
tbe best careers known in the history of American politics. 

At this same commencement of Cornell University ap- 
peared another statesman, Justin S. Morrill of Vermont, 
author of the Morrill Bill of 1862, which, by a grant of 
public lands, established a college for scientific, technical, 
military, and general education in every State and Terri- 
tory in the Union. It was one of the most beneficent mea- 
sures ever proposed in any country. Mr. Morrill had 
made a desperate struggle for his bill, first as represen- 
tative and afterward as senator. It was twice vetoed by 
President Buchanan, who had at his back all the pro-sla- 
very doctrinaires of his time. They distrusted, on various 
accounts, any system for promoting advanced education, 
and especially for its promotion by the government ; but 
he won the day, and on this occasion our trustees, at my 
suggestion, invited him to be present at the unveiling of 
his portrait by Huntington, which had been painted by 
order of the trustees for the library. 

He was evidently gratified at the tribute, and all who 
met him were pleased with him. The time will come, I 
trust, when his statue will stand in the capital of the Union 
as a memorial of one of the most useful and far-seeing 
statesmen our country has known. 

A week later I addressed my class at Yale on "The 
Message of the Nineteenth Century to the Twentieth." In 
this address my endeavor was to indicate the lines on which 
reforms of various sorts must be instituted, and along 
which a better future for the country could be developed, 
and it proved a far greater success than I had expected. 
It was widely circulated in various forms, first in the 
newspapers, then as a pamphlet, and finally as a kind of 
campaign document. 

From July to September of that year (1883) I was 
obliged to be in Europe looking after matters pertaining 
to the university lawsuit, and, on returning, was called 
upon to address a large meeting of Germans at the funeral 



ARTHUR, CLEVELAND, AND BLAINE-1881-1884 201 

of a member of the German parliament who had 
died suddenly while on a visit to our country— Edward 
Lasker. I had known him well in Berlin as a man of 
great ability and high character, and felt it a duty to 
accept the invitation to give one of the addresses at 
his funeral. The other address was given by my friend 
of many years, Carl Schurz; and these addresses, with 
some others made at the time, did, I suppose, something 
to bring to me the favor of my German fellow-citizens in 
New York. 

Still, my main thoughts were given to Cornell Univer- 
sity. This was so evident that on one occasion a newspaper 
of my own party, in an article hostile to those who spoke 
of nominating me for the governorship, declared: "Mr. 
White's politics and religion are Cornell University." 
But suddenly, in 1884, I was plunged into politics most 
unexpectedly. 

As has been usual with every party in the State of New 
York from the beginning of the government, the Republi- 
cans were divided between two factions, one supporting 
Mr. Arthur for the Presidency, the other hoping to nomi- 
nate Mr. Blaine. These two factions thus standing op- 
posed to each other, Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, with a few 
others in various parts of the State, started an independent 
movement, with the result that the two main divisions of 
the party, detesting each other more than they detested the 
independents, supported the latter and elected indepen- 
dent candidates as delegates at large to the approaching 
Republican Convention at Chicago. Without any previous 
notice, I was made one of these delegates. My position was 
therefore perfectly independent; I was at liberty to vote 
for whom I pleased. Although my acquaintance with Mr. 
Blaine was but slight, I had always felt strong admiration 
and deep attachment for him. As Secretary of State, dur- 
ing a part of my residence in Berlin, he had stood by 
me in a contest regarding the double standard of value 
in which I had feared that he might waver ; and, far more 
than all this, his general political course had caused me, 



202 POLITICAL LIFE-X 

as it had caused myriads of others, to feel grateful to 
him. 

But I had learned some things regarding his vulner- 
ability in a presidential campaign which made me sure 
that it would be impossible to elect him. An impartial 
but kindly judge had, some months before, while ex- 
pressing great admiration for Mr. Blaine, informed me of 
some transactions which, while they showed no turpitude, 
revealed a carelessness in doing business which would cer- 
tainly be brought to bear upon him with great effect in a 
heated political campaign. It was clear to me that, if 
nominated, he would be dragged through the mire, the 
Republican party defeated, and the country at large be- 
smirched in the eyes of the whole world. 

Arrived at Chicago June 2, 1884, I found the political 
caldron seething and bubbling. Various candidates 
were earnestly supported, and foremost of all, Presi- 
dent Arthur and Mr. Blaine. The independent delegates, 
led by Theodore Roosevelt and George William Cur- 
tis, and the Massachusetts delegation, headed by Governor 
Long, Senator Hoar, and Henry Cabot Lodge, decided to 
support Senator Edmunds of Vermont. No man stood 
higher than he for integrity as well as for statesmanlike 
qualities and legal abilities ; no one had more thoroughly 
the respect of thinking men from one end of the country 
to the other. 

The delegates having arrived in the great hall where 
the convention was sitting, a number of skirmishes took 
place, and a momentary victory was gained by the Inde- 
pendents in electing, as temporary chairman, a colored 
delegate of great ability from one of the Southern States, 
over Mr. Powell Clayton of Arkansas, who, though he 
had suffered bitterly and struggled bravely to maintain 
the Union during the Civil War, was supposed to be iden- 
tified with doubtful methods in Southern politics. 

But as it soon became evident that the main tide was for 
Mr. Blaine, various efforts were made to concentrate the 
forces opposed to him upon some candidate who could 



ARTHUR, CLEVELAND, AND BLAINE— 1881-1884 203 

command more popular support than Mr. Edmunds. An 
earnest effort was made in favor of John Sherman 
of Ohio, and his claims were presented most sympatheti- 
cally to me by my old Cornell student, Governor Foraker. 
Of all the candidates before the convention I would have 
preferred to vote for Mr. Sherman. He had borne the 
stress of the whole anti-slavery combat, and splendidly; 
he had rendered great services to the nation as a statesman 
and financier, and was in every respect capable and worthy. 
Unfortunately there were too many old enmities against 
him, and it was clear that the anti-Blaine vote could not 
be concentrated on him. My college classmate, Mr. 
Knevals of New York, then urged me to vote for President 
Arthur. This, too, would have been a fairly satisfactory 
solution of the question, for President Arthur had sur- 
prised every one by the excellence of his administration. 
Still there was a difficulty in his case : the Massachusetts 
delegates could not be brought to support him ; it was said 
that he had given some of their leaders mortal offense 
by his hostility to the River and Harbor Bill. A final ef- 
fort was then made by the Independents to induce General 
Sherman to serve, but he utterly refused, and so the only 
thing left was to let matters take their course. All chance 
of finding any one to maintain the desired standard of 
American political life against the supporters of Mr. 
Blaine had failed. 

As we came into the convention on the morning of the 
day fixed for making the nominations, I noticed that the 
painted portraits of Washington and Lincoln, previously 
on either side of the president's chair, had been removed. 
Owing to the tumultuous conduct of the crowd in the gal- 
leries, it had been found best to remove things of an 
ornamental nature from the walls, for some of these or- 
naments had been thrown down, to the injury of those 
sitting below. 

On my calling Curtis 's attention to this removal of the 
two portraits, he said : l ' Yes, I have noticed it, and I am 
glad of it. Those weary eyes of Lincoln have been upon 



204 POLITICAL LIFE-X 

us here during our whole stay, and I am glad that they are 
not to see the work that is to be done here to-day. ' ' It was 
a curious exhibition of sentiment, a revelation of the deep 
poetic feeling which was so essential an element in Curtis 's 
noble character. 

The various candidates were presented by prominent 
speakers, and most of the speeches were thoroughly good ; 
but unquestionably the best, from an oratorical point of 
view, was made on the nomination of Mr. Edmunds by 
Governor Long of Massachusetts. Both as to matter and 
manner it was perfection ; was felt to be so by the conven- 
tion; and was sincerely applauded even by the majority 
of those who intended to vote for Mr. Blaine. 

There was one revelation here, as there had been at 
many conventions previously, which could not fail to pro- 
duce a discouraging impression upon every thoughtful 
American. The number of delegates and substitutes sent 
to the convention amounted in all to a few hundreds, but 
these were almost entirely lost in the immense crowd of 
spectators, numbering, it was said, from twelve to fifteen 
thousand. In the only conventions which I had ever before 
seen, including those at Baltimore and Philadelphia and 
various State conventions of New York, the delegates had 
formed the majority of those in the hall; but in this great 
"wigwam" there were times in which the most important 
part was played by the spectators. At some moments this 
overwhelming mob, which encircled the seats of the dele- 
gates on the floor and rose above them on all sides in the 
galleries, endeavored to sweep the convention in the direc- 
tion of its own whims and fancies. From time to time 
the convention ceased entirely to be a deliberative body. 
As the names of certain favorite candidates were called, or 
as certain popular allusions were made in speeches, this 
mob really took possession of the convention and became 
almost frantic. I saw many women jumping up and down, 
dishevelled and hysterical, and some men acting in much 
the same way. It was absolutely unworthy of a conven- 
tion of any party, a disgrace to decency, and a blot upon 



ARTHUR, CLEVELAND, AND BLAINE- 1881-1884 205 

the reputation of our country. I am not alone in this opin- 
ion. More than once during my official life in Europe I 
have heard the whole thing lamented by leading liberal 
statesmen as bringing discredit on all democratic gov- 
ernment. 

There were times indeed when the galleries sought to 
howl down those who were taking part in the convention, 
and this was notably the case during a very courageous 
speech by Mr. Roosevelt. 

I may mention, in passing, that the country then re- 
ceived the first revelation of that immense pluck and vigor 
which have since carried Mr. Roosevelt through so many 
political conflicts, borne him through all the dangers of 
the Santiago campaign, placed him in the governor's chair 
of the State of New York and in the Vice-Presidency of 
the United States, leading to the Presidency, which he 
holds as I revise these lines. At the Chicago Convention, 
though he was in a small minority, nothing daunted him. 
As he stood upon a bench and addressed the president, 
there came from the galleries on all sides a howl and 
yell, ' ' Sit down ! sit down ! ' ' with whistling and cat-calls. 
All to no purpose; the mob might as well have tried to 
whistle down a bronze statue. Roosevelt, slight in build 
as he then was, was greater than all that crowd combined. 
He stood quietly through it all, defied the mob, and finally 
obliged them to listen to him. 

Toward the end of the convention this mob showed itself 
even worse than before. It became evident that large 
parts of the galleries were packed in the interest of the 
local candidate for the Vice-Presidency, General Logan, 
and this mass of onlookers did their best to put down all 
delegates supporting any other. 

No more undemocratic system was ever devised. The 
tendency of this "wigwam" plan of holding great meet- 
ings or conventions is to station a vast mob of sensation- 
seeking men and women in the galleries between the dele- 
gates and the country at large. The inevitable consequence 
is that the "fog-horns" of a convention play the most ef- 



206 POLITICAL LIFE-X 

fective part, and that they seek mainly the applause of the 
galleries. The country at large is for the moment for- 
gotten. The controlling influence is the mob, mainly from 
the city where the convention is held. The whole thing is 
a monstrous abuse. Attention has been called to it by 
thinking Democrats as well as by Republicans, who have 
seen in it a sign of deterioration which has produced many 
unfortunate consequences and will produce more. It is 
the old story of the French Convention overawed by a gal- 
lery mob and mistaking the mob whimsies of a city for the 
sober judgment of the country. One result of it the whole 
nation saw when, in more recent years, a youthful member 
of Congress, with no training to fit him for executive 
duties, was suddenly, by the applause of such a mob, im- 
posed upon the Democratic National Convention as a 
candidate for the Presidency. Those who recall the way in 
which "the boy orator of the Platte" became the Demo- 
cratic candidate for the Chief Magistracy over seventy 
millions of people, on account of a few half-mawkish, half- 
blasphemous phrases in a convention speech, can bear wit- 
ness to the necessity of a reform in this particular— a 
reform which will forbid a sensation-seeking city mob to 
usurp the function of the whole people of our Republic. 

In spite of these mob hysterics, the Independents per- 
sisted to the last in supporting Mr. Edmunds for the first 
place, but in voting for the second place they separated. 
For the Vice-Presidency I cast the only vote which was 
thrown for my old Cornell student, Mr. Foraker, pre- 
viously governor of Ohio, and since that time senator 
from that State. 

In spite of sundry "defects of his qualities," which 
I freely recognized, I regarded him as a fearless, upright, 
downright, straightforward man of the sort who must 
always play a great part in American politics. 

It was at this convention that I saw for the first time 
Mr. McKinley of Ohio, and his quiet self-possession in 
the midst of the various whirls and eddies and storms 
caused me to admire him greatly. Calm, substantial, quick 



ARTHUR, CLEVELAND, AND BLAINE-1881-1884 207 

to see a good point, strong to maintain it, he was evidently 
a born leader of men. His speeches were simple, clear, 
forcible, and aided at times in rescuing the self-respect 

of the body. 

This Republican convention having adjourned, the Na- 
tional Democratic Convention met soon afterward in the 
same place and nominated Grover Cleveland of New York. 
He was a man whom I greatly respected. As already 
stated, his career as sheriff of Erie County, as mayor of 
Buffalo, and as governor of the State of New York had 
led me to admire him. He had seemed utterly inca- 
pable of making any bid for mob support; there had 
appeared not the slightest germ of demagogism in him; 
he had refused to be a mere partizan tool and had stead- 
ily stood for the best ideals of government. As governor 
he showed the same qualities which had won admiration 
during his previous career as sheriff and mayor. He 
made as many appointments as he could without regard 
to political considerations, and it was remarked with won- 
der that when a number of leading Democratic "workers" 
and "wheel-horses" came to the executive chamber in 
Albany in order to dictate purely partizan appointments, 
he virtually turned them out of the room. Most amazing 
thing of all, he had vetoed a bill reducing the fare on the 
elevated railroads of New York, in the face of the earnest 
advice of partizans who assured him that by doing so he 
would surely array against him the working-classes of 
that city and virtually annihilate his political future. 
To this his answer was that whatever his sympathies for 
the working-people might be, he could not, as an honest 
man, allow such a bill to pass, and, come what might, he 
would not. He had also dared, quietly but firmly, to resist 
the chief "boss" of his party in New York City, and he 
had consequently to brave the vials of Celtic wrath. The 
scenes at the convention which nominated him were stir- 
ring, and an eminent Western delegate struck a chord in 
the hearts of thousands of Republicans as well as Demo- 
crats when he said, "We love him for the enemies he has 



208 POLITICAL LIFE-X 

made. ' ' Had it been a question simply between men, great 
numbers of us who voted for Mr. Blaine would have voted 
for Mr. Cleveland; but whatever temptation I might be 
subjected to in the matter was overcome by one fact: Mr. 
Cleveland was too much like the Trojan horse, for he bore 
with him a number of men who, when once brought into 
power, were sure to labor hard to undo everything that 
he would endeavor to accomplish, and his predestined suc- 
cessor in the governorship of the State of New York was 
one of those whom I looked upon as especially dangerous. 

Therefore it was, that, after looking over the ground, I 
wrote an open letter to Mr. Theodore Roosevelt and other 
Independents, giving the reasons why those of us who had 
supported Mr. Edmunds should now support Mr. Blaine, 
and in this view Mr. Roosevelt, with a large number of our 
Independent friends, agreed. 

I had, however, small hopes. It was clear to me that Mr. 
Blaine had little chance of being elected ; that, in fact, he 
was too heavily weighted with the transactions which Mr. 
Pullman had revealed to me some months before the be- 
ginning of the convention. 

But I made an effort to commit him to the only policy 
which could save him. For, having returned to the univer- 
sity, I wrote William Walter Phelps, an old friend, who 
had been his chief representative at Chicago, an earnest 
letter stating that there seemed to me but one chance of 
rallying to Mr. Blaine's support the very considerable 
body of disaffected Republicans in the State of New York ; 
that, almost without exception, they were ardent believers 
in a reform of the civil service; and that an out-and-out 
earnest declaration in favor of it by our presidential can- 
didate might do much to propitiate them. I reminded 
Mr. Phelps of the unquestioned evils of the "spoils sys- 
tem," and said that Mr. Blaine must surely have often 
observed them, suffered under pressure from them, and 
felt that something should be done to remedy them ; and 
that if he would now express his conviction to this effect, 
taking strong ground in favor of the reform and basing 



ARTHUR, CLEVELAND, AND BLAINE -1881-1884 209 

his utterances on his experiences as a statesman, it would, 
in my mind, do much to save the State of New York for 
the Republicans. 

After writing this letter, feeling that it might seem to 
Mr. Phelps and to Mr. Blaine himself very presuming for 
a man who had steadily opposed them at Chicago thus to 
volunteer advice, I laid it aside. But it happened that I 
had been chosen one of the committee of delegates to go 
to Maine to apprise Mr. Blaine formally of his nomina- 
tion, and it also happened that my old student and friend, 
Judge Foraker, was another member of the committee. It 
was impossible for me to go to Maine, since the commence- 
ment of the university, at which I was bound to preside, 
came on the day appointed for Mr. Blaine's reception of 
the committee at Bangor; but Judge Foraker having 
stopped over at the university to attend a meeting of the 
trustees as an alumni member of that body, I mentioned 
this letter to him. He asked to see it, and, having read it, 
asked to be allowed to take it with him. I consented, and 
heard nothing more from him on the subject; but the fol- 
lowing week, at the Yale commencement, while sitting with 
Mr. Evarts and Judge Shipman to award prizes in the 
law department, I saw, looking toward me over the 
heads of the audience in the old Centre Church, my 
friend Frederick William Holls of New York, and it 
was evident from his steady gaze that he had something 
to say. The award of prizes having been made and the 
audience dismissed, Mr. Holls met me and said: "Mr. 
Blaine will adopt your suggestion in his letter of accep- 
tance." Both of us were overjoyed. It looked like a 
point scored not only for the Republican party, but for the 
cause which we both had so deeply at heart. 

But as the campaign went on it was more and more 
evident that this concession, which I believe he would have 
adhered to had he been elected, was to be in vain. 

It was perhaps, on the whole, and on both sides, the vilest 
political campaign ever waged. Accusations were made 
against both candidates which should have forever brought 

I.-14 



210 POLITICAL LIFE-X 

contempt on the men who made them. Nothing could have 
been further from the wish of either candidate than that 
such accusations should be made against his opponent, but 
each was powerless: the vile flood of slander raged on. 
But I am glad here to recall the fact that when, at a later 
period, one of the worst inventors of slander against Mr. 
Blaine sought reward in the shape of office from President 
Cleveland, he was indignantly spurned. 

In politics I took very little part. During the summer 
my main thoughts were directed toward a controversy be- 
fore the Board of Regents, in regard to the system of 
higher education in the State of New York, with my 
old friend President Anderson of Rochester, who had 
vigorously attacked some ideas which seemed to me essen- 
tial to any proper development of university education 
in America ; and this was hardly finished when I was asked 
to take part in organizing the American Historical Associ- 
ation at Saratoga, and to give the opening address. This, 
with other pursuits of an academic nature, left me little 
time for the political campaign. 

But there occurred one little incident to which I still 
look back with amusement. My old friends and con- 
stituents in Syracuse had sent me a general invitation to 
come over from the university and preside at some one 
of their Republican mass-meetings. My answer was that 
as to the "hack speakers" of the campaign, with their ven- 
erable gags, stale jokes, and nauseating slanders, I had no 
desire to hear them, and did not care to sit on the platform 
with them ; but that when they had a speaker to whom I 
cared to listen I would gladly come. The result was that 
one day I received a letter inviting me to preside over a 
mass-meeting at Syracuse, at which Mr. McKinley was to 
make the speech. I accepted gladly and on the appointed 
evening arrived at the Syracuse railway station. There 
I found the mayor of the city ready to take me in his car- 
riage to the hall where the meeting was to be held ; but we 
had hardly left the station when he said to me: "Mr. 
White, I am very sorry, but Mr. McKinley has been de- 



ARTHUR, CLEVELAND, AND BLAINE-1881-1884 211 

layed and we have had to get another speaker." I was 
greatly disappointed, and expressed my feelings somewhat 
energetically, when the mayor said : ' ' But this speaker is 
really splendid ; he carries all before him ; he is a thorough 
Kentucky orator. ' ' My answer was that I knew the breed 
but too well, and that if I had known that Mr. McKinley 
was not to come I certainly would not have left my work 
at the university. By this time we had arrived at the door 
of the Globe Hotel, whence the speaker entered the car- 
riage. He was a tall, sturdy Kentuckian, and his appear- 
ance and manner showed that he had passed a very con- 
vivial day with the younger members of the committee 
appointed to receive him. 

His first words on entering the carriage were not very 
reassuring. No sooner had I been introduced to him than 
he asked where he could get a glass of brandy. "For," 
said he, "without a good drink just before I go on the 
platform I can't make a speech." I attempted to quiet 
him and to show him the difficulties in the case. I said: 

"Colonel , you have been with our young men here 

all day, and no doubt have had a fairly good time ; but in 
our meetings here there is just now need of especial care. 
You will have in your audience to-night a large number of 
the more sedate and conservative citizens of Syracuse, 
church members, men active in the various temperance 
societies, and the like. There never was a campaign when 
men were in greater doubt ; great numbers of these people 
have not yet made up their minds how they will vote, and 
the slightest exhilaration on your part may cost us hun- 
dreds of votes." He answered: "That 's all very well, but 
the simple fact is that I am here to make a speech, and I 
can't make it unless I have a good drink beforehand." I 
said nothing more, but, as he still pressed the subject on the 
mayor and the other member of the committee, I quietly 
said to them as I left the carriage : " If that man drinks 
anything more before speaking, I will not go on the stage 
with him, and the reason why I don't will speedily be 
made known. ' ' The mayor reassured me, and we all went 



212 POLITICAL LIFE-X 

together into the large room adjoining the stage, I keeping 
close watch over the orator, taking pains to hold him 
steadily in conversation, introducing as many leading 
men of the town to him as possible, thus preventing any 
opportunity to carry out his purpose of taking more 
strong drink, and to my great satisfaction he had no oppor- 
tunity to do so before we were summoned into the hall. 

Arrived there, I made my speech, and then the orator of 
the evening arose. But just before he began to speak 
he filled from a water-pitcher a large glass, and drank 
it off. My thought at the moment was that this would 
dilute some of the stronger fluids he had absorbed dur- 
ing the day and cool him down somewhat. He then 
went on in a perfectly self-possessed way, betrayed not the 
slightest effect of drinking, and made a most convincing 
and effective speech, replete with wit and humor ; yet, em- 
bedded in his wit and humor and rollicking fun, were argu- 
ments appealing to the best sentiments of his hearers. The 
speech was in every way a success ; at its close I congratu- 
lated him upon it, and was about to remind him that he 
had done very well on his glass of cold water, when he 
suddenly said to me: "Mr. White, you see that it was just 
as I told you : if I had n't taken that big glass of gin from 
the pitcher just before I started, I could not have made 
any speech." 

' ' All 's well that ends well, ' ' and, though the laugh was 
at my expense, the result was not such as to make me es- 
pecially unhappy. 

But this campaign of 1884 ended as I had expected. Mr. 
Cleveland was elected to the Presidency. 



CHAPTER XIII 

HENDRICKS, JOHN SHERMAN, BANCROFT, 

AND OTHERS— 1884-1891 

THE following spring, visiting Washington, I met 
President Cleveland again. 

Of the favorable impression made upon me by his 
career as Governor of New York I have already spoken, 
and shall have occasion to speak presently of his Presi- 
dency. The renewal of our acquaintance even increased 
my respect for him. He was evidently a strong, honest 
man, trying to do his duty under difficulties. 

I also met again Mr. Cleveland's opponent in the pre- 
vious campaign— Mr. Blaine. Calling on Mr. William 
Walter Phelps, then in Congress, whom I had known as 
minister of the United States at Vienna, and who was 
afterward my successor at Berlin, I made some refer- 
ence to Mr. Blaine, when Mr. Phelps said: "Why don't 
you go and call upon him?" I answered that it might 
be embarrassing to both of us, to which he replied: "I 
don't think so. In spite of your opposition to him 
at Chicago, were I in your place I would certainly go 
to his house and call upon him." That afternoon I 
took this advice, and when I returned to the hotel Mr. 
Blaine came with me, talking in a most interesting way. 
He spoke of my proposed journey to Virginia, and dis- 
cussed Jefferson and Hamilton, admiring both, but Jef- 
ferson the most. As to his own working habits, he said 
that he rose early, did his main work in the morning, and 
never did any work in the evening; that, having been 

213 



214 POLITICAL LIFE-XI 

brought up in strongly Sabbatarian notions during his 
boyhood in Pennsylvania, he had ever since, from the 
force of habit, reserved Sunday as a day of complete rest. 
Speaking of the customs in Pennsylvania at that time, he 
said that not even a walk for exercise was allowed, and 
nothing was ever cooked on the sacred day. 

I met him afterward on various occasions, and could not 
but admire him. At a dinner-party he was vexatiously 
badgered by a very bumptious professor, who allowed 
himself to speak in a rather offensive manner of ideas 
which Mr. Blaine represented; and the quiet but decisive 
way in which the latter disposed of his pestering inter- 
locutor was worthy of all praise. 

Mr. Blaine was certainly the most fascinating man I 
have ever known in politics. No wonder that so many 
Republicans in all parts of the country seemed ready to 
give their lives to elect him. The only other public man 
in the United States whose personality had ever elicited 
such sympathy and devotion was Henry Clay. Perhaps 
his nearest friend was Mr. Phelps, to whom I have re- 
ferred above,— one of the best, truest, and most win- 
ning men I have ever known. He had been especially 
devoted to Mr. Blaine, with whom he had served in Con- 
gress, and it was understood that if the latter had been 
elected Mr. Phelps would have been his Secretary of State. 

Mr. Phelps complained to me, half seriously, half jo- 
cosely, of what is really a crying abuse in the United States 
—namely, that there is no proper reporting of the pro- 
ceedings of the Houses of Congress in the main jour- 
nals of the country which can enable the people at large 
to form any just idea as to how their representatives are 
conducting the public business. He said: "I may make 
a most careful speech on any important subject before 
Congress and it will not be mentioned in the New York 
papers, but let me make a joke and it will be published all 
over the United States. Yesterday, on a wager, I tried 
an experiment: I made two poor little jokes during a short 



HENDRICKS, SHERMAN, BANCROFT -1884 -1891 215 

talk in the House, and here they are in the New York 
papers of this morning." 

During this visit to Washington I met at the house of 
my classmate and dear friend, Randall Gibson, then a 
senator from Louisiana, a number of distinguished men, 
among them the Vice-President, Mr. Hendricks, and Gen- 
eral Butler, senator from South Carolina. 

Vice-President Hendricks seemed sick and sore. He 
had expected to be a candidate for the Presidency, with 
a strong probability of election, but had accepted the Vice- 
Presidency; and the subject which seemed to elicit his 
most vitriolic ill will was reform in the civil service. As we 
sat one evening in the smoking-room at Senator Gibson's, 
he was very bitter against the system, when, to my sur- 
prise, General Butler took up the cudgels against him and 
made a most admirable argument. At that moment, for 
the first time, I felt that the war between North and South 
was over; for all the old issues seemed virtually settled, 
and here, as regarded this new issue, on which I felt very 
deeply, was one of the most ardent of Confederate sol- 
diers, a most bitter pro-slavery man before the Civil War, 
one who, during the war, had lost a leg in battle, nearer 
me politically than were many of my friends and neigh- 
bors in the North. 

Senator Jones of Florida, who was present, gave us 
some character sketches, and among others delineated ad- 
mirably General Williams, known in the Mexican War 
as "Cerro Gordo Williams," who was for a time sena- 
tor from Kentucky. He said that Williams had a wonder- 
ful gift of spread-eagle oratory, but that, finding no 
listeners for it among his colleagues, he became utterly 
disgusted and went about saying that the Senate was a 

"d d frigid, respectable body that chilled his intellect." 

This led my fellow-guests to discuss the characteristics of 
the Senate somewhat, and I was struck by one remark in 
which all agreed— namely, that "there are no politics in 
executive session." 



f\0 POLITICAL LIFE-XI 

Gibson remarked that the best speech he had ever 
heard in the Senate was made by John Sherman. 

As regards civil-service matters, I found on all sides 
an opinion that Mr. Cleveland was, just as far as possible, 
basing his appointments upon merit. Gibson mentioned 
the fact that a candidate for an important office in his 
State, who had committed three murders, had secured 
very strong backing, but that President Cleveland utterly 
refused to appoint him. 

With President Cleveland I had a very interesting in- 
terview. He referred to his visit to Cornell University, 
said that he would have liked nothing so well as to go 
more thoroughly through its various departments, and, as 
when I formerly saw him, expressed his regret at the loss 
of such opportunities as an institution of that kind af- 
fords. 

At this time I learned from him and from those near 
him something regarding his power for hard work. It 
was generally understood that he insisted on writing out 
all important papers and conducting his correspondence 
in his own hand, and the result was that during a con- 
siderable period of the congressional sessions he sat at 
his desk until three o'clock in the morning. 

It was evident that his up-and-down, curt, independent 
way did not at all please some of the leading members 
of his party; in fact, there were signs of a serious es- 
trangement caused by the President's refusals to yield 
to senators and other leaders of the party in the matter 
of appointments to office. To illustrate this feeling, a 
plain, bluff Western senator, Mr. Sawyer of Wisconsin, 
told me a story. 

Senator Sawyer had built up a fortune and gained a 
great influence in his State by a very large and extensive 
business in pine lumber, and he had a sort of rough, 
quaint woodman's wit which was at times very amusing. 
He told me that, some days before, two of his most eminent 
Democratic colleagues in the Senate were just leaving the 
Capitol, and from something they said he saw that they 



HENDRICKS, SHERMAN, BANCROFT- 1884 -1891 217 

were going to call upon the President. He therefore 
asked them, "How do you like this new President of 
yours?" "Oh," answered the senators in chorus, "he is 
a very good man— a very good man indeed." "Yes," 
said Senator Sawyer, "but how do you like him?" "Oh," 
answered the senators, "we like him very much— very 
much indeed." "Well," said Sawyer, "I will tell you a 
story before you go to the White House if you will agree, 
when you get back, to tell me— 'honest Injun'— whether it 
suits your case." Both laughingly agreed, and Mr. Saw- 
yer then told them the following story: When he was a 
young man with very small means, he and two or three 
other young wood-choppers made up an expedition for 
lumber-cutting. As they were too poor to employ a cook 
for their camp, they agreed to draw lots, and that the 
one on whom the lot fell should be cook, but only until 
some one of the company found fault; then the fault- 
finder should become cook in his turn. Lots being 
drawn, one of them, much to his disgust, was thus chosen 
cook, and toward the close of the day he returned to camp, 
before the others, to get supper ready. Having taken 
from the camp stores a large quantity of beans, he put 
them into a pot boiling over the fire, as he had seen his 
mother do in his boyhood, and then proceeded to pour in 
salt. Unfortunately the salt-box slipped in his hand, and 
he poured in much more than he had intended— in fact, the 
whole contents of the box. On the return of the woodmen 
to the cabin, ravenously hungry, they proceeded to dish 
out the boiled beans, but the first one who put a spoonful 
in his mouth instantly cried out with a loud objurgation, 
"Thunder and lightning! this dish is all salt"; but, in a 
moment, remembering that if he found fault he must him- 
self become cook, he said very gently, "But I like salt.'' 
Both senators laughed and agreed that they would give 
an honest report of their feelings to Senator Sawyer 
when they had seen the President. On their return, Saw- 
yer met them and said, "Well, honest Injun, how was it?" 
They both laughed and said, ' ' Well, we like salt. ' ' 



218 POLITICAL LIFE-XI 

Among many interesting experiences I recall espe- 
cially a dinner at the house of Mr. Fairchild, Secretary 
of the Treasury. He spoke of the civil service, and said 
that a short time previously President Cleveland had 
said to him, regarding the crowd pressing for office: "A 
suggestion to these office-seekers as to the good of the 
country would make them faint." 

During this dinner I happened to be seated between 
Senators John Sherman of Ohio and Vance of Georgia, 
and presently Mr. Vance— one of the j oiliest mortals I 
have ever met— turned toward his colleague, Senator Sher- 
man, and said, very blandly: "Senator, I am glad to see 
you back from Ohio; I hope you found your fences in 
good condition." There was a general laugh, and when 
it was finished Senator Sherman told me in a pleasant 
way how the well-known joke about his "looking after his 
fences" arose. He said that he was the owner of a large 
farm in Ohio, and that some years previously his tenant 
wrote urging him most earnestly to improve its fences, 
so that finally he went to Ohio to look into the matter. 
On arriving there, he found a great crowd awaiting 
him and calling for a speech, when he excused himself 
by saying that he had not come to Ohio on political busi- 
ness, but had merely come "to look after his fences." 
The phrase caught the popular fancy, and "to look after 
one's fences" became synonymous with minding one's 
political safeguards. 

I remember also an interesting talk with Mr. Bayard, 
who had been one of the most eminent senators in his time, 
who was then Secretary of State, and who became, at a 
later period, ambassador of the United States to Great 
Britain. Speaking of office-seeking, he gave a comical 
account of the developing claims of sundry applicants 
for foreign missions, who, he said, "are at first willing to 
go, next anxious to go, and finally angry because they 
cannot go." 

On another social occasion, the possibility of another 
attempt at secession by States being discussed, General 



HENDRICKS, SHERMAN, BANCROFT -1884 -1891 219 

Butler of South Carolina said: "No more secession for 
me. ' ' To this, Senator Gibson, who also had been a brig- 
adier-general in the Confederate service, and had seen 
much hard fighting, said, "And no more for me." Butler 
rejoined, "We may have to help in preventing others from 
seceding one of these days. ' ' I was glad to note that both 
Butler and Gibson spoke thoroughly well of their former 
arch-enemy, General Grant. 

Very interesting was it to meet again Mr. George Ban- 
croft. He referred to his long service as minister at 
Berlin, expressed his surprise that Bismarck, whom he 
remembered as fat, had become bony, and was very severe 
against both clericals and liberals who had voted against 
allowing aid to Bismarck in the time of his country's 
greatest necessity. 

I also met my Cornell colleague Goldwin Smith, the 
former Oxford professor and historian, who expressed his 
surprise and delight at the perfect order and decorum of 
the crowd, numbering nearly five thousand persons, at the 
presidential levee the night before. In order to under- 
stand what an American crowd was like, instead of going 
into the White House by the easier way, as he was entitled 
by his invitation to do, he had taken his place in the long 
procession far outside the gate and gradually moved 
through the grounds into the presidential presence, taking 
about an hour for the purpose. He said that there was 
never any pressing, crowding, or impatience, and he com- 
pared the crowd most favorably with any similar body in 
a London street. 

Chief Justice Waite I also found a very substantial, 
interesting man; but especially fascinating was General 
Sheridan, who, at a dinner given by my Berlin predeces- 
sor, Mr. Bancroft Davis, described the scene at the battle 
of Gravelotte when, owing to a rush by the French, the 
Emperor of Germany was for a time in real danger and 
was reluctantly obliged to fall back. He said that during 
the panic and retreat toward Thionville he saw the Em- 
peror halt from time to time to scold soldiers who threw 



220 POLITICAL LIFE-XI 

away their muskets; that very many German soldiers, 
during this panic, cast aside everything except the clothes 
they wore— not only their guns, but their helmets; that 
afterward the highways and fields were strewn thickly 
with these, and that wagons were sent out to collect them. 
He also said that Bismarck spoke highly to him regard- 
ing the martial and civil qualities of the crown prince, 
afterward the Emperor Frederick, but that regarding 
the Red Prince, Frederick Charles, he expressed a very 
different opinion. 

Speaking of a statement that some one had invented 
armor which would ward off a rifle-ball, Sheridan said 
that during the Civil War an officer who wore a steel vest 
beneath his coat was driven out of decent society by gen- 
eral contempt ; and at this Goldwin Smith told a story of 
the Duke of Wellington, who, when troubled by an in- 
ventor of armor, nearly scared him to death by ordering 
him to wear his own armor and allow a platoon of soldiers 
to fire at him. 

During the course of the conversation Sheridan said 
that soldiers were braver now than ever before— braver, 
indeed, than the crusaders, as was proved by the fact 
that in these days they wear no armor. To this Goldwin 
Smith answered that he thought war in the middle ages 
was more destructive than even in our time. Sheridan 
said that breech-loading rifles kill more than all the 
cannon. 

At a breakfast given by Goldwin Smith at Wormley's, 
Bancroft, speaking of Berlin matters, said that the Em- 
peror William did not know that Germany was the second 
power in the world so far as a mercantile navy was con- 
cerned until he himself told him; and on the ignorance 
of monarchs regarding their own domains, Goldwin 
Smith said that Lord Malmesbury, when assured by Na- 
poleon III that in the plebiscite he would have the vote of 
the army, which was five hundred thousand, answered, 
"But, your majesty, your army numbers seven hundred 
thousand," whereupon the Emperor was silent. The in- 



HENDRICKS, SHERMAN, BANCROFT-1884-1891 221 

ference was that his majesty knew a large part of his 
army to be merely on paper. 

At this Mr. John Field, of Philadelphia, said that on 
the breaking out of the Franco-Prussian War he went to 
General Grant at Long Branch, and asked him how the 
war was likely to turn out, to which the general answered, 
"As I am President of the United States, I am unable to 
answer." "But," said Field, "I am a citizen sovereign 
and ask an opinion. " " Well, ' ' said General Grant, ' ' con- 
fidentially, the Germans will beat the French thoroughly 
and march on Paris. The French army is a mere shell." 
This reminded me that General Grant, on my own visit 
to him some weeks before, had foretold to me sundry diffi- 
culties of Lord Wolseley in Egypt just as they afterward 
occurred. 

At a dinner with Senator Morrill of Vermont I met 
General Schenck, formerly a leading member of Congress 
and minister to Brazil and to England. He was very in- 
teresting in his sketches of English orators; thought 
Bright the best, Gladstone admirable, and Sir Stafford 
Northcote, with his everlasting hawing and humming, 
intolerable. He gave interesting reminiscences of Tom 
Corwin, his old preceptor, and said that Corwin's power 
over an audience was magical. He added that he once 
attended a public dinner in Boston, and, sitting near 
Everett, who was the chief speaker, noticed that when the 
waiters sought to clear the table and were about to remove 
a bouquet containing two small flags, Everett would not 
allow them to do it, and that later in the evening, during 
his speech, just at the proper point, he caught up these 
flags, as if accidentally, and waved them. He said that 
everything with Everett and Choate seemed to be cut and 
dried; that even the interruptions seemed prepared be- 
forehand. 

Senator Morrill then told a story regarding Everett's 
great speech at the opening of the Dudley Observatory 
at Albany, which I had heard at the time of its delivery. 
In this speech Everett said: "Last night, crossing the 



222 POLITICAL LIFE-XI 

Connecticut River, I saw mirrored in its waters Arcturus, 
then fully at the zenith, and I thought, ' ' etc., etc. ; ' ' but, ' ' 
said Morrill, ' ' some one looked into the matter and found 
that Everett, before leaving home, had evidently turned 
the globe in his study wrong side up, for at that time 
Arcturus was not at the zenith, but at the nadir." 

At the Cornell commencement of this year (1885) I 
resigned my presidency of the university. It had nomi- 
nally lasted eighteen years, but really more than twenty, 
since I had taken the lead in the work of the university 
even before its charter was granted, twenty years pre- 
viously, and from that day the main charge of its organi- 
zation and of everything except providing funds had been 
intrusted to me. Regarding this part of my life I shall 
speak more fully in another chapter. 

Shortly after this resignation two opportunities were 
offered me which caused me considerable thought. 

As to the first, President Cleveland was kind enough 
to write me an autograph letter asking whether I would 
accept one of the positions on the new Interstate Railway 
Commission. I felt it a great honor to be asked to act as 
colleague with such men as Chief Justice Cooley, Mr. 
Morrison, and others already upon that board, but I rec- 
ognized my own incompetence to discharge the duties of 
such a position properly. Though I had been, some years 
before, a director in two of the largest railway corpora- 
tions in the United States, my heart was never in that 
duty, and I never prepared myself to discharge it. 
Thinking the matter over fully, I felt obliged to decline 
the place. My heart was set on finishing the book which 
I had so long wished to publish,— my " History of the 
Warfare of Science with Theology, "—and in order to 
cut myself off from other work and get some needed 
rest I sailed for Europe on October 3, 1885, but while 
engaged most delightfully in visits to Oxford, Cam- 
bridge, and various places on the Continent, I received 
by cable an offer which had also a very tempting side. 
It was sent by my old friend Mr. Henry Sage of Ithaca, 



HENDRICKS, SHERMAN, BANCROFT-1884-1891 223 

urged me to accept the nomination to Congress from that 
district, and assured me that the nomination was equiva- 
lent to an election. There were some reasons why such a 
position was attractive to me, but the more I thought of 
it the more it seemed to me that to discharge these duties 
properly would take me from other work to which I was 
pledged. Before deciding the question, however, I deter- 
mined to consult two old friends who were then living in 
London hotels adjacent to my own. The first of these was 
my dear old instructor, with whom my relations had been 
of the kindest ever since my first year at Yale— President 
Porter. 

On my laying the matter before him, he said, "Accept 
by all means ' ' ; but as I showed him the reasons on both 
sides, he at last reluctantly agreed with me that probably 
it was best to send a declination. 

The other person consulted was Mr. James Belden of 
Syracuse, afterward a member of Congress from the 
Onondaga district, a politician who had a most intimate 
knowledge of men and affairs in our State. We had been, 
during a long period, political adversaries, but I had 
come to respect sundry qualities he had more lately ex- 
hibited, and therefore went to him as a practical man 
and laid the case before him. He expressed his great 
surprise that I should advise with him, my old political 
adversary, but he said, "Since you do come, I will give 
you the very best advice I can." 

We then went over the case together, and I feel sure 
that he advised me as well as the oldest of my friends 
could have done, and with a shrewdness and foresight 
all his own. 

One of his arguments ran somewhat as follows: "To 
be successful in politics a man must really think of no- 
thing else ; it must be his first thought in the morning and 
his last at night ; everything else must yield to it. Here- 
tofore you have quietly gone on your way, sought nothing, 
and taken what has been freely tendered you in the in- 
terest of the party and of the public. I know the Elmira 



224 POLITICAL LIFE -XI 

district, and you can have the nomination and the election 
without trouble; but the question is whether you could 
ever be happy in the sort of work which you must do in 
order to take a proper place in the House of Representa- 
tives. First of all, you must give up everything else and 
devote yourself to that alone; and even then, when you 
have succeeded, you have only to look about you and see 
the men who have achieved success in that way, and who, 
after all, have found in it nothing but disappointment." 
In saying this he expressed the conclusion at which I had 
already arrived. 

I cabled my absolute declination of the nomination, and 
was reproved by my friends for not availing myself of 
this opportunity to take part in political affairs, but have 
nevertheless always felt that my decision was wise. 

To tell the truth, I never had, and never desired to 
have, any capacity for the rough-and-tumble of poli- 
tics. I greatly respect many of the men who have gifts of 
that sort, but have recognized the fact that my influence 
in and on politics must be of a different kind. I have 
indeed taken part in some stormy scenes in conventions, 
meetings, and legislatures, but always with regret. My 
true role has been a more quiet one. My ambition, 
whether I have succeeded in it or not, has been to set 
young men in trains of fruitful thought, to bring mature 
men into the line of right reason, and to aid in devising 
and urging needed reforms, in developing and supporting 
wise policies, and in building up institutions which shall 
strengthen what is best in American life. 

Early in 1891 I was asked by Mr. Sherman Rogers 
of Buffalo, one of the best and truest men in political 
life that I have ever known, to accompany him and 
certain other gentlemen to Washington, in order to pre- 
sent to Mr. Harrison, who had now become President of 
the United States, an argument for the extension of the 
civil-service rules. Accompanied by Mr. Theodore Roose- 
velt and Senator Cabot Lodge, our delegation reached 
the Executive Mansion at the time fixed by the President, 



HENDRICKS, SHERMAN, BANCROFT- 1884-1891 225 

and were received in a way which surprised me. Mr. 
Harrison seemed, to say the least, not in good humor. He 
stood leaning on the corner of his desk, and he asked none 
of us to sit. All of us had voted for him, and had come 
to him in his own interest as well as in the interest of the 
country; but he seemed to like us none the better for all 
that. The first speech was made by Mr. Rogers. Dwell- 
ing on the disappointment of thoughtful Republicans 
throughout the country at the delay in redeeming pledges 
made by the Republican National Convention as to the 
extension of the civil service, and reiterated in the Presi- 
dent's own speeches in the United States Senate, he in a 
playful way referred to the conduct of certain officials in 
Buffalo, when the President interrupted him, as it seemed 
to me at the time very brusquely and even rudely, 
saying: "Mr. Rogers, you have no right to impute evil 
motives to any man. The motives of these gentlemen to 
whom you refer are presumably as good as your own. An 
argument based upon such imputations cannot advance the 
cause you support in the slightest degree." Mr. Rogers 
was somewhat disconcerted for a moment, but, having 
resumed his speech, he presented, in a very dignified and 
convincing way, the remainder of his argument. He was 
followed by the other members from various States, giv- 
ing different sides of the case, each showing the impor- 
tance which Republicans in his own part of the country 
attributed to an extension of the civil-service rules. 

My own turn came last. I said : ' ' Mr. President : I will 
make no speech, but will simply state two facts. 

"First: Down to a comparatively recent period every 
high school, college, and university in the Northern States 
has been a center of Republican ideas : no one will gainsay 
this for a moment. But recently there has come a change. 
During nearly twenty years it has been my duty to nomi- 
nate to the trustees of Cornell University candidates for 
various positions in its faculty; the fundamental charter 
of the institution absolutely forbids any consideration, in 
such cases, of the party or sect to which any candidate 

L— 15 



226 POLITICAL LIFE-XI 

belongs, and I have always faithfully carried out that 
injunction, never, in any one of the multitude of nomina- 
tions that I have made, allowing the question of politics to 
enter in the slightest degree. But still it has happened that, 
almost without exception, the candidates have proved to be 
Eepublicans, and this to such an extent that at times I have 
regretted it; for the university has been obliged fre- 
quently to ask for legislation from a Democratic legis- 
lature, and I have always feared that this large prepon- 
derance of Republican professors would be brought up 
against us as an evidence that we were not true to the 
principles of our charter. As a matter of fact, down to 
two or three years since, there were, as I casually learned, 
out of a faculty of about fifty members, not over eight 
or ten Democrats. But during these recent years all this 
has been changed, and at the State election, when Judge 
Folger was defeated for the governorship, I found to my 
surprise that, almost without exception, my colleagues in 
the faculty had voted the Democratic ticket; so far as I 
could learn, but three besides myself had voted for the Re- 
publican candidate." President Harrison immediately 
said: "Mr. White, was that not chiefly due to the free- 
trade tendencies of college-men V ' I answered: "No, Mr. 
President; the great majority of these men who voted 
with the Democrats were protectionists, and you will 
yourself see that they must have been so if they had con- 
tinued to vote for the Republican ticket down to that 
election. All that I hear leads me to the conviction 
that the real cause is disappointment at the delay of the 
Republican party in making good its promises to improve 
the public service. In this question the faculties of our 
colleges and universities, especially in the Eastern, Mid- 
dle, and Northern States, take a deep interest. In fact, it 
is with them the question of all questions; and I think 
this is one of the things which, at that election in New 
York, caused the most overwhelming defeat that a candi- 
date for governor had ever experienced." To this the 
President listened attentively, and I then said: "Mr. 



HENDRICKS, SHERMAN, BANCROFT -1884 -1891 227 

President, my second point is this: The State of New 
York is, of course, of immense importance to the Repub- 
lican party, and it has been carried in recent years by a 
majority of a few hundred votes. There are more than 
fourteen thousand school districts in the State, and in 
nearly every one of these school districts there are a cer- 
tain number of earnest men— anywhere from a handful 
to a houseful— who believe that since the slavery ques- 
tion is removed from national politics, the only burning 
question which remains is the 'spoils system' and the 
reform of the civil service. Now, you have only to mul- 
tiply the fourteen thousand school districts by a very 
small figure, and you will see the importance of this ques- 
tion as regards the vote of the State of New York. I know 
whereof I speak, for I have myself addressed meetings 
in many of these districts in favor of a reform of the civil 
service, have had correspondence with other districts in 
all parts of the State, and am sure that there is a deep- 
seated feeling on the subject in great numbers of them,— 
a feeling akin to what used to be called in the anti-slavery 
days 'fanaticism,'— that is, a deep-seated conviction that 
this is now the most important question before the Ameri- 
can people, and that it must be settled in precedence 
to all others." 

The President received what I had to say courteously, 
and then began a reply to us all. He took at first rather 
a bitter tone, saying that he had a right to find fault 
with all of us; that the Civil Service League had de- 
nounced his administration most unjustly for its relation 
to the spoils system ; that he was moving as rapidly in the 
matter as circumstances permitted; that he was anxious 
to redeem the promises made by the party and by himself ; 
that he had already done something and purposed to do 
more ; and that the glorifications of the progress made by 
the previous administration in this respect, at the expense 
of his own, had been grossly unjust. 

To this we made a short rejoinder on one point, stating 
that his complaint against us was without foundation; 



228 POLITICAL LIFE-XI 

that not one of us was a member of the Civil Service 
League ; that not one of us had taken any part in its de- 
liberations ; and that we could not, therefore, be made re- 
sponsible in any way for its utterances. The President 
now became somewhat more genial, though he did not 
ask us to be seated, alluding in a pungent but good-na- 
tured way to the zeal for reform shown by Mr. Roosevelt, 
who was standing by, and closing in considerably better 
humor than he had begun. Although I cannot say that I 
was greatly pleased with his treatment of the committee, 
I remembered that, although courtesy was not generally 
considered his strong point, he was known to possess 
many sterling qualities, and I felt bound to allow that his 
speech revealed a man of strength and honest purpose. 
All of us, even Mr. Roosevelt and Senator Lodge, came 
away believing that good had been done, and that the 
President, before his term of office had expired, would do 
what he could in the right direction ; and I am glad to say 
that this expectation was fulfilled. 



CHAPTER XIV 

McKINLEY AND KOOSEVELT —1891-1904 

DURING the summer of 1891 came a curious episode in 
my life, to which, as it was considerably discussed in 
the newspapers at the time, and as various sensational 
news-makers have dwelt upon it since, I may be permitted 
to refer. During several years before,— in fact, ever since 
my two terms in the State Senate,— various people, and 
especially my old Cornell students throughout the State, 
had written to me and published articles in my behalf 
as a candidate for governor. I had never encour- 
aged these, and whenever I referred to them deprecated 
them, since I preferred a very different line of life, 
and felt that the grapple with spoilsmen which every 
governor must make would wear me out very rapidly. 
But the election which was that year approaching was felt 
to be very important, and old friends from various 
parts of the State thought that, in the severe contest 
which was expected, I stood a better chance of election 
than any other who could be named at that particular 
time, their theory being that the German vote of the State 
would come to me, and that it would probably come to no 
other Republican. 

The reason for this theory was that I had received part 
of my education in Germany ; had shown especial interest 
in German history and literature, lecturing upon them at 
the University of Michigan and at Cornell ; had resided in 
Berlin as minister; had, on my return, delivered in New 
York and elsewhere an address on the "New Germany," 

229 



?30 POLITICAL LIFE-XII 

»; 

wherein were shown some points in German life which 
Americans might study to advantage ; had also delivered 
an address on the ' ' Contributions of Germany to American 
Civilization"; and had, at various times, formed pleasant 
relations with leading Germans of both parties. The fact 
was perfectly well known, also, that I was opposed to the 
sumptuary laws which had so largely driven Germans out 
of the Republican party, and had declared that these were 
not only unjust to those immediately affected by them, but 
injurious to the very interests of temperance, which they 
were designed to promote. 

I was passing the summer at Magnolia, on the east 
coast of Massachusetts, when an old friend, the son of 
an eminent German- American, came from New York and 
asked me to become a candidate for the governorship. 
I was very reluctant, for special as well as general rea- 
sons. My first wish was to devote myself wholly to cer- 
tain long-deferred historical work; my health was not 
strong; I felt utterly unfitted for the duties of the cam- 
paign, and the position of governor, highly honorable as 
it is, presented no especial attractions to me, my ambition 
not being in that line. Therefore it was that at first I 
urged my friends to combine upon some other person; 
but as they came back and insisted that they could 
agree on no one else, and that I could bring to the sup- 
port of the party men who would otherwise oppose it, 
I reluctantly agreed to discuss the subject with some of 
the leading Republicans in New York, and among them 
Mr. Thomas C. Piatt, who was at the head of the organ- 
ized management of the party. 

In our two or three conversations Mr. Piatt impressed 
me curiously. I had known him slightly for many years ; 
indeed, we had belonged to the same class at Yale, but as 
he had left it and I had entered it at the beginning of the 
sophomore year we did not know each other at that period. 
We had met occasionally when we were both supporting 
Mr. Conkling, but had broken from each other at the time 
when he was supporting Mr. Blaine, and I, Mr. Edmunds, 



McKINLEY AND ROOSEVELT- 1891-1904 231 

for the nomination at Chicago. Our discussion now took 
a form which somewhat surprised me. The general be- 
lief throughout the State was, I think, that Mr. Piatt's 
first question, or, at any rate, his main question, in any such 
discussion, would be, necessarily, as to the attitude of the 
candidate toward Mr. Piatt's own interests and aspira- 
tions. But I feel bound to say that in the discussions be- 
tween us no such questions were ever asked, approached, 
or even hinted at. Mr. Piatt never asked me a question 
regarding my attitude toward him or toward his friends ; 
he never even hinted at my making any pledge or promise 
to do anything or not to do anything with reference to 
his own interests or to those of any other person; his 
whole effort was directed to finding what strength my 
nomination would attract to the party and what it would 
repel. He had been informed regarding one or two un- 
popular votes of mine when I was in the State Senate— as, 
for example, that I had opposed the efforts of a powerful 
sectarian organization to secure the gift of certain valu- 
able landed property from the city of New York; he had 
also been informed regarding certain review and maga- 
zine articles in which I had spoken my mind somewhat 
freely against certain influences in the State which were 
still powerful, and it had been hinted to him that my 
" Warfare of Science" chapters might have alienated a 
considerable number of the more narrow-minded clergy- 
men and their flocks. 

I told Mr. Piatt frankly that these fears seemed quite 
likely to be well founded, and that there were some other 
difficulties which I could myself suggest to him : that I had, 
in the course of my life, made many opponents in sup- 
porting Cornell University, and in expressing my mind 
on various questions, political and religious, and that 
these seemed to me likely to cost the party very many 
votes. I therefore suggested that he consult certain per- 
sons in various parts of the State who were entitled to 
have an opinion, and especially two men of the highest 
judgment in such matters— Chief Justice Andrews of 



232 POLITICAL LIFE -XII 

Syracuse, and Carroll Earl Smith, editor of the leading 
Republican journal in central New York. The result was 
that telegrams and letters were exchanged, these gentle- 
men declaring their decided opinion that the matters re- 
ferred to were bygones, and could not be resuscitated in 
the coming contest ; that they would be lost sight of in the 
real questions sure to arise ; and that even in the election 
immediately following the vote which I had cast against 
giving a large tract of Ward 's Island to a Roman Catholic 
institution, I had lost no votes, but had held my own with 
the other candidates, and even gained upon some of them. 

Mr. Piatt also discussed my relations to the Germans 
and to the graduates of Cornell University who were scat- 
tered all over the State ; and as these, without exception, 
so far as could be learned, were my warm personal 
friends, it was felt by those who had presented my name, 
and finally, I think, by Mr. Piatt, that these two elements 
in my support might prove valuable. 

Still, in spite of this, I advised steadily against my own 
nomination, and asked Mr. Piatt: "Why don't you sup- 
port your friend Senator Fassett of Elmira? He is a 
young man ; he has very decided abilities ; he is popular ; 
his course in the legislature has been admirable ; you have 
made him collector of the port of New York, and he is 
known to be worthy of the place. Why don't you ask 
him?" Mr. Piatt's frankness in reply increased my re- 
spect for him. He said: "I need not confess to you that, 
personally, I would prefer Mr. Fassett to yourself ; but if 
he were a candidate he would have to carry the entire 
weight of my unpopularity." 

Mr. Piatt was from first to last perfectly straightfor- 
ward. He owed me nothing, for I had steadily voted 
against him and his candidate in the National Convention 
at Chicago. He had made no pledges to me, for I had 
allowed him to make none— even if he had been disposed 
to do so ; moreover, many of my ideas were opposed to his 
own. I think the heaviest piece of work I ever undertook 
was when, some months before, I had endeavored to con- 



McKINLEY AND ROOSEVELT -1891-1904 233 

vert him to the civil-service-reform forces ; but while I had 
succeeded in converting a good many others, he remained 
intractable, and on that subject we were at opposite poles. 

It therefore seems to me altogether to his credit that, 
in spite of this personal and theoretical antagonism be- 
tween us, and in spite of the fact that I had made, and he 
knew that I would make, no pledges or promises what- 
ever to him in view of an election, he had favored my 
nomination solely as the best chance of obtaining a Repub- 
lican victory in the State; and I will again say that I 
do not believe that his own personal advantage entered 
into his thoughts on this occasion. His pride and his 
really sincere devotion to the interests of the Republican 
party, as he understood them, led him to desire, above all 
things, a triumph over the Democratic forces, and the 
only question in his mind was, Who could best secure the 
victory ! 

At the close of these conferences he was evidently in my 
favor, but on leaving the city I said to him : " Do not con- 
sider yourself as in any way pledged to my support. Go 
to the convention at Rochester, and decide what is best 
after you get there. I have no desire for the nomination— 
in fact, would prefer that some one else bear the burden 
and heat of the day. I have been long out of touch with 
the party managers in the State. I don't feel that they 
would support me as they would support some man like 
Mr. Fassett, whom they know and like personally, and I 
shall not consider you as pledged to me in the slightest 
degree. I don't ask it; I don't wish it; in fact, I prefer 
the contrary. Go to Rochester, be guided by circum- 
stances, and decide as you see fit. ' ' 

In the meantime various things seemed to strengthen 
my candidacy. Leading Germans who had been for some 
time voting with the Democratic party pledged themselves 
to my support if I were nominated, and one of them could 
bring over to my side one of the most powerful Demo- 
cratic journals in the State; in fact, there were pledged 
to my support two leading journals which, as matters 



234 POLITICAL LIFE-XII 

turned out afterward, opposed the Republican nomina- 
tion. 

At the convention which met shortly afterward at 
Rochester (September, 1891), things went as I had an- 
ticipated, and indeed as I had preferred. Mr. Piatt found 
the elements supporting Mr. Fassett even stronger than 
he had expected. The undercurrent was too powerful for 
him, and he was obliged to yield to it. 

Of course sundry newspapers screamed that he had de- 
ceived and defeated me. I again do him the justice to say 
that this was utterly untrue. I am convinced that he went 
to Rochester believing my candidacy best for the party ; 
that he really did what he could in my favor, but that he 
found, what I had foretold, that Mr. Fassett, young, ener- 
getic, known, and liked by the active political men in 
various parts of the State, naturally wished to lead the 
forces and was naturally the choice of the convention— a 
choice which it was not within Mr. Piatt's power to 
change. 

Mr. Fassett was nominated, and I do not know that I 
have ever received a message which gave me a greater 
sense of relief than the telegram which announced this fact 
to me. 

As regards the inside history of the convention, Pro- 
fessor Jenks of Cornell University, a very thoughtful 
student of practical politics, who had gone to Rochester 
to see the working of a New York State convention, told 
me some time afterward that he had circulated very freely 
among the delegates from various rural districts ; that they 
had no acquaintance with him, and therefore talked freely 
in his presence regarding the best policy of the conven- 
tion. As a rule, the prevailing feeling among them was 
expressed as follows: "White don't know the boys; he 
don't know the men who do the work of the party; he 
supports civil-service reform, and that means that after 
doing the work of the campaign we shall have no better 
chance for the offices than men who have done nothing— in 
fact, not so good, perhaps, as those who have opposed 



McKINLEY AND ROOSEVELT- 1891-1904 235 

us." No doubt this feeling entered into the minds of a 
large number of delegates and conduced to the result. 

A few weeks afterward Mr. Fassett came to Ithaca. I 
had the pleasure of presiding and speaking at the public 
meeting which he addressed, and of entertaining him at 
my house. He was in every way worthy of the position 
to which he had been nominated, but, unfortunately, was 
not elected. 

Having made one or two speeches in this campaign, I 
turned to more congenial work, and in the early spring 
of the following year (February 12 to May 16, 1892) ac- 
cepted an election as non-resident professor at Stanford 
University in California, my duty being to deliver a 
course of twenty lectures upon ' ' The Causes of the French 
Revolution." Just as I was about to start, Mr. Andrew 
Carnegie very kindly invited me to go as his guest in his 
own car and with a delightful party. There were eight of 
us— four ladies and four gentlemen. "We went by way of 
Washington, Chattanooga, and New Orleans, stopping at 
each place, and meeting many leading men; then to the 
city of Mexico, where we were presented to Porfirio Diaz, 
the president of that republic, who seemed to be a man of 
great shrewdness and strength. I recall here the fact that 
the room in which he received us was hung round with 
satin coverings, on which, as the only ornament, were the 
crown and cipher of Diaz' unfortunate predecessor, the 
Emperor Maximilian. Thence we went to California, and 
zigzag along the Pacific coast to Tacoma and Seattle; 
then through the Rocky Mountains to Salt Lake City, 
meeting everywhere interesting men and things, until at 
Denver I left the party and went back to give my lectures 
at Stanford. 

Returning to Cornell University in the early summer, 
I found myself in the midst of my books and happy in 
resuming my work. But now, July 21, 1892, came my 
nomination by President Harrison to the position of en- 
voy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary at St. 
Petersburg. On thinking the matter over, it seemed to me 



236 POLITICAL LIFE-XII 

that it would be instructive and agreeable to have a second 
diplomatic experience in Russia after my absence of 
nearly forty years. I therefore accepted, and in the au- 
tumn of 1892 left America for St. Petersburg. 

While in Washington to receive my instructions before 
leaving, I again met Mr. Harrison, and must say that he 
showed a much more kindly and genial side than that 
which had formerly been revealed to me, when I had dis- 
cussed shortcomings of his administration as regarded 
the civil service. 

My occupancy of this new position lasted until the au- 
tumn of 1894, and there was one thing in it which I have 
always regarded as a great honor. Mr. Harrison had ap- 
pointed me at about the close of the third year of his term 
of office ; I therefore naturally looked forward to a stay of 
but one year in Russia, and, when I left America, certainly 
desired no more. A little of Russian life goes very far. It is 
brilliant and attractive in many ways ; but for a man who 
feels that he has duties and interests in America it soon be- 
comes a sort of exile. At the close of Mr. Harrison's ad- 
ministration, therefore, I tendered my resignation, as is 
customary with ministers abroad at such times, so that it 
would arrive in Washington on the fourth day of March, 
and then come under the hand of the new President, Mr. 
Cleveland. I had taken its acceptance as a matter of 
course, and had made all my arrangements to leave Russia 
on the arrival of my successor. But soon I heard that 
President Cleveland preferred that I should remain, and 
that so long as I would consent to remain no new appoint- 
ment would be made. In view of the fact that I had stead- 
ily voted against him, and that he knew this, I felt his 
conduct to be a mark of confidence for which I ought to be 
grateful, and the result was that I continued at the post 
another year, toward the close of which I wrote a private 
letter to him, stating that under no circumstances could I 
remain longer than the 1st of October, 1894. The fact was 
that the book which I considered the main work of my life 
was very nearly finished. I was anxious to have leisure to 



McKINLEY AND ROOSEVELT— 1891-1904 237 

give it thorough revision, and this leisure I could not have 
in a diplomatic position. Therefore it was that I insisted 
on terminating my career at St. Petersburg, and that the 
President finally accepted my declination in a letter which 
I shall always prize. 

During the following winter (1894-1895), at Florence, 
Sorrento, and Palermo, my time was steadily given to my 
historical work; and having returned home and seen it 
through the press, I turned to another historical treatise 
which had been long deferred, and never did a man more 
thoroughly enjoy his leisure. I was at last apparently my 
own master, and could work in the midst of my books and 
in the library of the university to my heart's content. 

But this fair dream was soon brought to naught. In 
December, 1895, I was appointed by President Cleveland 
a member of the commission to decide upon the boundary 
line between the British possessions in South America and 
Venezuela. The circumstances of the case, with the man- 
ner in which he tendered me the position, forbade me to 
decline it, and I saw no more literary leisure during the 
following year. 

As the presidential campaign of 1896 approached I had 
given up all thoughts of politics, and had again resumed the 
historical work to which I proposed to devote, mainly, the 
rest of my life— the preparation of a biographical history 
of modern Germany, for which I had brought together a 
large amount of material and had prepared much manu- 
script. I also hoped to live long enough to put into shape 
for publication a series of lectures, on which I had ob- 
tained a mass of original material in France, upon ' ' The 
Causes of the French Revolution"; and had the new cam- 
paign been like any of those during the previous twenty 
years, it would not have interested me. But suddenly news 
came of the nomination by the Democrats of Mr. Bryan. 
The circumstances attending this showed clearly that the 
coming contest involved, distinctly, the question between 
the forces of virtual repudiation, supporting a policy which 
meant not merely national disaster but generations of dis- 



238 POLITICAL LIFE-XII 

honor on the one side, and, on the other, Mr. McKinley, 
supporting a policy of financial honesty. Having then 
been called upon to preside over a Republican meeting at 
Ithaca, I made a speech which was published and widely 
circulated, giving the reasons why all thinking men of both 
parties ought to rally in support of the Republican candi- 
date, and this I followed with an open letter to many lead- 
ing Democrats in the State. It was begun as a private 
letter to a valued Democratic friend, Mr. Oscar S. Straus, 
who has twice proved himself a most useful and patri- 
otic minister of the United States at Constantinople. But, 
as my pen was moving, another Democratic friend came 
into my mind, then another, and again another, until 
finally my views were given in an open letter to them all ; 
and this having been submitted to a friend in New York, 
with permission to use it as he thought best, he published 
it. The result seemed fortunate. It was at once caught 
up by the press and republished in all parts of the country. 
I cannot claim that the gentlemen to whom I wrote were 
influenced by it, but certain it is that in spite of their ear- 
nest differences from President McKinley on very impor- 
tant questions, their feeling that this campaign involved 
issues superior to any of those which had hitherto ex- 
isted, led all of them, either directly or indirectly, to sup- 
port him. 

At the suggestion of various friends, I also republished 
in a more extended form my pamphlet on ' ' Paper Money 
Inflation in France : How it Came, What it Brought, and 
How it Ended, ' ' which had first been published at the sug- 
gestion of General Garfield and others, as throwing light 
on the results of a debased currency, and it was now widely 
circulated in all parts of the country. 

Mr. McKinley was elected, and thus, in my judgment, 
was averted the greatest peril which our Republic has en- 
countered since the beginning of the Civil War. Having 
now some time for myself, I accepted sundry invitations 
to address the students of two of the greater State univer- 
sities of the West. It gave me pleasure to visit them, on 



McKINLEY AND ROOSEVELT-1891-1904 239 

many accounts, and above all for the purpose of realizing 
the magnificent advance that has been made by them in 
becoming universities worthy of our country. 

My anticipations were far more than met. My old stu- 
dent and successor at the University of Michigan as pro- 
fessor and at Cornell University as president, Dr. Charles 
Kendall Adams, welcomed me to the institution over which 
he so worthily presided— the State University of Wis- 
consin; and having visited it a quarter of a century be- 
fore, I was now amazed at its progress. The subject of 
my address, in the presence of the whole body of students, 
was ' ' Evolution versus Revolution in Politics, ' ' and never 
have I spoken with more faith and hope. Looking into 
the faces of that immense assembly of students, in training 
for the best work of their time, lifted me above all doubts 
as the future of that commonwealth. 

From Madison I went to Minneapolis under an invita- 
tion to address the students at the State University of 
Minnesota, and again my faith and hope were renewed as 
I looked into the faces of those great audiences of young 
men and young women. They filled me with confidence 
in the future of the country. At Minneapolis I also met 
various notable men, among them Archbishop Ireland, 
who had interested me much at a former meeting in Phila- 
delphia. I became sure that whatever ecclesiastics of his 
church generally might feel toward the United States, he 
was truly patriotic. Alas for both church and state that 
such prelates as Gibbons, Ireland, Keane, Spalding, and 
the like, should be in a minority ! 

But my most curious experience was due to another 
citizen of Minnesota. Having been taken to the State 
House, I was introduced, in the lower branch of the legisla- 
ture, to no less a personage than Mr. Ignatius Donnelly, so 
widely known by his publications regarding the authorship 
of Shakspere's writings; and on my asking him whether 
he was now engaged on any literary work, he informed me 
that he was about to publish a book which would leave no 
particle of doubt, in the mind of any thinking man, that 



240 POLITICAL LIFE -XII 

the writings attributed to Shakspere were really due to 
Francis Bacon. During this conversation the house was 
droning on in committee of the whole, and the proceedings 
fell upon my ear much like the steady rumble of a mill ; but 
suddenly the mill seemed to stop, my own name was called, 

and immediately afterward came the words: "Mr. 

of and Mr. of will escort Mr. White to 

the chair. ' ' It was a very sudden awakening from my talk 
with Mr. Donnelly on literature, but there was no help for 
it. ' ' Accoutred as I was, I plunged in, ' ' and, in a long fur- 
lined coat much the worse for wear and bespattered with 
mud, was conducted to the speaker, who, after formal 
greetings, turned me loose on the audience. Naturally my 
speech revealed what was uppermost in my mind— wonder 
at the progress made by the State, admiration for its in- 
stitutions, confidence in its future, pride in its relation to 
the Union. At the close of this brief talk a few members 
set up a call for Mr. Donnelly to respond, whereupon he 
promptly arose, and of all the speeches I have ever heard 
his was certainly the most surprising. It had seemed to 
me that my own remarks had glorified Minnesota up to the 
highest point ; but they were tame indeed compared to his. 
Having first dosed me with blarney, he proceeded to deluge 
the legislature with balderdash. One part of his speech 
ran substantially on this wise : 

"Mr. Speaker, I ask the gentleman, when he returns to 
his home, to tell his fellow-citizens of the East what he has 
seen during his visit to this great State ; and, sir, we also 
wish him to tell them that Minnesota and the great North- 
west will no longer consent to be trodden under the feet 
of the East. The strength of the United States and the 
future center of American greatness is here in Minnesota. 
Mr. Speaker, not far from this place I own a farm." (Here 
I began to wonder what was coming next.) "From that 
farm, on one side, the waters trickle down until they reach 
the rivulets, and then the streams, and finally the great 
rivers which empty into Hudson Bay. And from the 
other side of that farm, sir, the waters trickle down into 



McKINLEY AND ROOSEVELT-1891-1904 241 

the rivulets, thence pass into the streams, and finally into 
the great Father of Waters, until they reach the Gulf of 
Mexico. Mr. Speaker, on this plateau are now raised the 
great men of the Republic. Formerly Virginia was the 
mother of statesmen ; that is so no longer. The mother of 
statesmen in these days, and of the men who are to control 
the destinies of this Republic, is Minnesota." 

Never before had I any conception of the height to which 
"tall talk" might attain. It was the apotheosis of blather ; 
but as my eye wandered over the assemblage, I noticed 
that many faces wore smiles, and it was clear to me that 
the members had merely wished to exhibit their most 
amusing specimen. 

I felt that if they could stand it I could, and so, having 
bidden the Speaker and Mr. Donnelly good-bye, passed out 
and made the acquaintance of the neighboring city of St. 
Paul, which struck me as even more beautiful than Edin- 
burgh in the views from its principal streets over hills, 
valleys, and mountains. 

At the University of Michigan, in view of my recent 
visit, I did not again stop, but at Harvard and Yale I 
addressed the students, and returned home from the excur- 
sion with new faith in the future of the country. James 
Bryce is right when he declares that in our universities lie 
the best hopes of the United States. 

Early in the year following the election I was ap- 
pointed by the President ambassador to Germany. I had 
not sought the position ; indeed, I had distinctly declined 
to speak of the matter to any of those who were supposed 
to have the management of political affairs in the State. 
It came to me, directly and unsought, from President 
McKinley; I therefore prized it, and shall ever prize the 
remembrance of it. 

While it was announced as pending, I was urged by 
various friends to speak of the subject to Mr. Piatt, who, 
as the only Republican senator from New York and the 
head of the Republican organization, was supposed to 
have large rights in the matter. It was hinted to me that 

L— 16 



242 POLITICAL LIFE-XII 

some statement to Mr. Piatt on the subject was re- 
quired by political etiquette and would smooth the Presi- 
dent 's way. My answer was that I felt respect and friend- 
ship for Mr. Piatt ; that I called at his rooms from time to 
time socially, and discussed various public matters with 
him ; but that I could never make a request to him in the 
premises ; that I could not put myself in the attitude of a 
suppliant, even in the slightest degree, to him or even to 
the President. 

The result was that the President himself spoke to Mr. 
Piatt on the subject, and, as I was afterward informed, the 
senator replied that he would make no objection, but that 
the appointment ought not to be charged against the claims 
of the State of New York. 

The presidential campaign of 1900, in which Mr. McKin- 
ley was presented for reelection, touched me but slightly. 
There came various letters urging me to become a candi- 
date for the Vice-Presidency, and sundry newspapers pre- 
sented reasons for my nomination, the main argument 
being the same which had been formerly used as regarded 
the governorship of New York— that the German- Ameri- 
cans were estranged from the Republican party by the 
high tariff, and that I was the only Republican who could 
draw them to the ticket. All this I deprecated, and refused 
to take any part in the matter, meantime writing my 
nephew, who had become my successor in the State Senate, 
my friend Dr. Holls, and others, to urge the name of 
Theodore Roosevelt. I had known him for many years 
and greatly admired him. His integrity was proof against 
all attack, his courage undoubted, and his vigor amazing. 
It was clear that he desired renomination for the place he 
already held— the governorship of New York— partly be- 
cause he was devoted to certain reforms, which he could 
carry out only in that position, and partly because he pre- 
ferred activity as governor of a great State to the usually 
passive condition of a Vice-President of the United States. 
Moreover, he undoubtedly had aspirations to the Presi- 
dency. These were perfectly legitimate, and indeed hon- 



McKINLEY AND ROOSEVELT-1891-1904 243 

orable, in him, as they are in any man who feels that he 
has the qualities needed in that high office. He and his 
friends clearly felt that the transition from the governor- 
ship of New York to the Presidency four years later would 
be more natural than that from the Vice-Presidency ; but 
in my letters I insisted that his name would greatly 
strengthen the national ticket, and that his road to the 
Presidency seemed to me more easy from the Vice-Presi- 
dency than from the governorship ; that, although during 
recent years Vice-Presidents had not been nominated to 
the higher office, during former years they had been ; and 
that I could see no reason why he might not bring about 
a return to the earlier custom. As to myself, at my age, I 
greatly preferred the duties of ambassador to those of 
Vice-President. The Republican party was wise enough 
to take this view, and at the National Convention he was 
nominated by acclamation. 

Early in August, having taken a leave of absence for 
sixty days, I arrived in New York, and on landing received 
an invitation from Mr. Roosevelt to pass the day with him 
at his house in the country. I found him the same earnest, 
energetic, straightforward man as of old. Though nomi- 
nated to the Vice-Presidency against his will, he had 
thrown himself heartily into the campaign, and the discus- 
sion at his house turned mainly on the securing of a proper 
candidate for the governorship of the State of New York. 
I recommended Charles Andrews, who, although in the 
fullest vigor of mind and body, had been retired from the 
chief-justiceship of the State on his arrival at the age of 
seventy years. This recommendation Mr. Roosevelt re- 
ceived favorably; but later it was found impossible to 
carry it out, the Republican organization in the State 
having decided in favor of Mr. Odell. 

During my entire stay in the United States I was 
constantly occupied with arrears of personal business 
which had been too long neglected ; but, at the request of 
various friends, wrote sundry open letters and articles, 
which were widely circulated among German-Americans, 



244 POLITICAL LIFE -XII 

showing the injustice of the charge so constantly made 
against President McKinley, of hostility to Germany and 
German interests. Nothing could be more absurd than 
such an imputation. The very opposite was the case. 

I also gave a farewell address to a great assemblage of 
students at Cornell University, my topic being "The True 
Conduct of Student Life" ; but in the course of my speech, 
having alluded to the importance of sobriety of judgment, 
I tested by it sundry political contentions which were 
strongly made on both sides, alluding especially to Gold- 
win Smith's very earnest declaration that one of the 
greatest dangers to our nation arises from plutocracy. 
I took pains to show that the whole spirit of our laws 
is in favor of the rapid dispersion of great properties, 
and that, within the remembrance of many present, a 
large number of the greatest fortunes in the United States 
had been widely dispersed. As to other declarations re- 
garding dangers arising from the acquisition of foreign 
territory and the like, I insisted that all these dangers were 
as nothing compared to one of which we were then having 
a striking illustration— namely, demagogism; and I urged, 
what I have long deeply felt, that the main source of 
danger to republican institutions is now, and always has 
been, the demagogism which seeks to array labor against 
capital, employee against employer, profession against 
profession, class against class, section against section. I 
mentioned the name of no one ; but it must have been clear 
to all present how deeply I felt regarding the issues which 
each party represented, and especially regarding the resort 
to the lowest form of demagogism which Mr. Bryan was 
then making, in the desperate attempt to save his falling 
fortunes. 

During this stay in America I made two visits to Wash- 
ington to confer with the President and the State Depart- 
ment. The first of these was during the hottest weather I 
have ever known. There were few people at the capital 
who could leave it, and at the Arlington Hotel there 
were not more than a dozen guests. All were distressed 



McKLNLEY AND ROOSEVELT -1891-1904 245 

by the heat. Moreover, there was an amazing complica- 
tion of political matters at this time, calculated to pros- 
trate the Washington officials, even if the heat had not done 
so ; and, among these, those relating to American control in 
the Philippine Islands ; the bitter struggle then going on in 
China between the representatives of foreign powers, in- 
cluding our own, and the Chinese insurrectionists; the 
difficulties arising out of the successful result of the Span- 
ish War in Cuba ; complications in the new administration 
of Porto Rico; and the myriad of questions arising in a 
heated political campaign, which was then running fast 
and furious. 

Arriving at the White House, I passed an hour with the 
President, and found him, of all men in Washington, the 
only one who seemed not at all troubled by the heat, by 
the complications in China, by the difficulties in Cuba and 
Porto Rico, or by the rush and whirl of the campaign. He 
calmly discussed with me the draft of a political note 
which was to be issued next day in answer to the Russian 
communications regarding the mode of procedure in 
China, which had started some very trying questions ; and 
then showed me a letter from ex-President Cleveland de- 
clining a position on the International Arbitration Tribu- 
nal at the Hague, and accepted my suggestion not to con- 
sider it a final answer, but to make another effort for 
Mr. Cleveland's acceptance. During this first visit of 
mine, the Secretary of State and the First Assistant Secre- 
tary were both absent, having been almost prostrated by 
the extreme heat. At a second visit in October, I again 
saw the President, found him in the same equable frame of 
mind, not allowing anything to trouble him, quietly dis- 
charging his duties in the calm faith that all would turn 
out well. Dining with Secretary Hay, I mentioned this 
equanimity of the President, when he said : ' ' Yes ; it is a 
source of perpetual amazement to us all. He allows no 
question, no matter how complicated or vexatious, to dis- 
turb him. Some time since, at a meeting of the cabinet, 
one of its members burst out into a bitter speech against 



246 POLITICAL LIFE-XII 

some government official who had been guilty of gross 
rudeness, and said, 'Mr. President, he has insulted you, 
and he has insulted me'; thereupon the President said 
calmly, 'Mr. Secretary, if he has insulted me, I forgive 
him; if he has insulted you, I shall remove him from 
office.' " 

Newspapers were teeming with misrepresentations of 
the President's course, but they failed to ruffle him. On 
his asking if I was taking any part in the campaign, I re- 
ferred to a speech that I had made on the Fourth of July 
in Leipsic, and another to the Cornell University students 
just before my departure, with the remark that I felt that 
a foreign diplomatic representative coming home and 
throwing himself eagerly into the campaign might pos- 
sibly do more harm than good. In this remark he acqui- 
esced, and said: "I shall not, myself, make any speeches 
whatever ; nor shall I give any public receptions. My rec- 
ord is before the American people, and they must pass 
judgment upon it. In this respect I shall go back to what 
seems to me the better practice of the early Presidents." 
I was struck by the justice of this, and told him so, al- 
though I felt obliged to say that he would be under fearful 
temptation to speak before the campaign had gone much 
farther. He smiled, but held to his determination, despite 
the fact that his opponent invaded all parts of the Union 
in an oratorical frenzy, in one case making a speech at 
half-past two in the morning to a crowd assembled at a 
railway station, and making during one day thirty-one 
speeches, teeming with every kind of campaign misrepre- 
sentation; but the President was faithful to his promise, 
uttered no word in reply, and was reelected. 

Not only at home, but abroad, as I can amply testify, the 
news of his reelection was received with general satisfac- 
tion, and most of all by those who wish well to our country 
and cherish hopes that government by the people and for 
the people may not be brought to naught by the wild 
demagogism which has wrecked all great republics thus 
far. 



McKINLEY AND ROOSEVELT- 1891-1904 247 

But alas! the triumph was short-lived. One morning 
in September, while I was slowly recovering from two of 
the greatest bereavements which have ever befallen me, 
came the frightful news of his assassination. Shortly 
afterward, for family and business reasons, I went for a 
few weeks to the United States, and, in the course of my 
visit, conferred with the new President three times— first 
at the Yale bicentennial celebration, afterward in his pri- 
vate office, and finally at his table in the "White House. 
Hard indeed was it for me to realize what had taken place 
—that President McKinley,whom I had so recently seen in 
his chair at the head of the cabinet table, was gone forever ; 
that in those rooms, where I had, at four different times, 
chatted pleasantly with him, he was never to be seen 
more ; and that here, in that same seat, was sitting my old 
friend and co-laborer. Hard was it to realize that the last 
time I had met Mr. Roosevelt in that same room was when 
we besought President Harrison to extend the civil ser- 
vice. Interesting as the new President's conversation was, 
there was constantly in my mind, whether in his office or 
his parlors or the dining-room at the White House, one 
deep undertone. It was like the pedal bass of an organ, 
steadily giving the ground tone of a requiem— the vanity 
and evanescence of all things earthly. There had I seen, 
in the midst of their jubilant supporters, Pierce, Lincoln, 
Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Cleveland, Harrison, and, finally, 
so short a time before, McKinley. It seemed all a dream. 
In his conversations the new President showed the same 
qualities that I had before known in him— earnestness, 
vigor, integrity, fearlessness, and, at times, a sense of 
humor, blending playfully with his greater qualities. The 
message he gave me to the Emperor William was charac- 
teristic. I was naturally charged to assure the Emperor of 
the President's kind feeling; but to this was added, in a 
tone of unmistakable truth: "Tell him that when I say 
this, I mean it. I have been brought up to admire and 
respect Germany. My life in that country and my reading 
since have steadily increased this respect and admiration. ' ' 



248 POLITICAL LIFE -XII 

I noticed on the table a German book which he had just 
been reading, its author being my old friend Professor 
Hans Delbriick of the Berlin University. At the close of 
the message, which referred to sundry matters of current 
business, came a playful postlude. "Tell his Majesty,'* 
said the President, ' ' that I am a hunter and, as such, envy 
him one thing especially: he has done what I have never 
yet been able to do— he has killed a whale. But say to 
him that if he will come to the United States, I will take 
him to the Rocky Mountains to hunt the mountain lions, 
which is no bad sport,— and that if he kills one, as he 
doubtless will, he will be the first monarch who has killed 
a lion since Tiglath-Pileser. " I need hardly add that 
when, a few weeks later, I delivered the message to 
the Emperor at Potsdam, it pleased him. Many people 
on both sides of the Atlantic have noted a similarity in 
qualities between these two rulers, and, from close obser- 
vation, I must confess that this is better founded than are 
most such attributed resemblances. The Emperor has 
indeed several accomplishments, more especially in artis- 
tic matters, which, so far as I can learn, the President has 
not ; but both are ambitious in the noblest sense ; both are 
young men of deep beliefs and high aims ; earnest, vigor- 
ous, straightforward, clear-sighted; good speakers, yet 
sturdy workers, and anxious for the prosperity, but above 
all things jealous for the honor of the people whose af- 
fairs they are called to administer. The President's ac- 
counts of difficulties in finding men for responsible po- 
sitions in various branches of the service, and his clear 
statements of the proper line to be observed in political 
dealings between the United States and Europe where 
South American interests were concerned, showed him to 
be a broad-minded statesman. During my stay with him, 
we also discussed one or two points in his forthcoming 
message to Congress, and in due time it was received at 
Berlin, attracting general respect and admiration in Ger- 
many, as throughout Europe generally. 



PART III 
AS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR 



CHAPTER XV 

LIFE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN — 1857-1864 

AS I looked out upon the world during my childhood, 
J~\ there loomed up within my little horizon certain per- 
sonages as ideals. Foremost of these was the surpliced 
clergyman of the parish. So strong was my admiration 
for him that my dear mother, during her entire life, never 
relinquished the hope, and indeed the expectation, that I 
would adopt the clerical profession. 

Another object of my admiration— to whose profession 
I aspired— was the village carpenter. He "did things," 
and from that day to this I have most admired the men 
who ' ' do things. ' ' 

Yet another of these personages was the principal of 
Cortland Academy. As 1 saw him addressing his students, 
or sitting in the midst of them observing with a telescope 
the satellites of Jupiter, I was overawed. A sense of my 
littleness overcame me, and I hardly dared think of as- 
piring to duties so exalted. 

But at the age of seven a new ideal appeared. The 
family had removed from the little town where I was born 
to Syracuse, then a rising village of about five thousand 
inhabitants. The railways, east and west, had just been 
created,— the beginnings of what is now the New York 
Central Railroad,— and every day, so far as possible, I 
went down-town ' ' to see the cars go out. ' ' During a large 
part of the year there was but one passenger-train in each 
direction, and this was made up of but three or four small 
compartment-cars drawn by a locomotive which would 

251 



252 AS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR-I 

now be considered ridiculously small, at the rate of twelve 
to fifteen miles an hour. 

Yet I doubt whether the express trains on the New York 
Central, drawn by hundred-ton locomotives at a speed of 
sixty miles an hour, produce on the youth of the present 
generation anything like the impression made by those 
simple beginnings. The new personage who now attracted 
my homage was the locomotive-driver. To me his profes- 
sion transcended all others. As he mounted the locomotive, 
and especially as he pulled the starting-bar, all other func- 
tions seemed insignificant. Every day I contemplated 
him; often I dreamed of him; saw him in my mind's 
eye dashing through the dark night, through the rain and 
hail, through drifting snow, through perils of "wash- 
outs ' ' and ' ' snake-heads, ' ' and no child in the middle ages 
ever thought with more awe of a crusading knight leading 
his troops to the Holy City than did I think of this hero 
standing at his post in all weathers, conducting his train 
to its destination beyond the distant hills. It was indeed 
the day of small things. The traveler passing from New 
York to Buffalo in those days changed from the steamer 
at Albany to the train for Schenectady, there changed to 
the train for Utica, thence took the train for Syracuse, 
there stayed overnight, then took a train for Auburn, 
where he found the train for Rochester, and after two more 
changes arrived in Buffalo after a journey of two days 
and a night, which is now made in from eight to ten hours. 

But the locomotive-driver was none the less a personage, 
and I must confess that my old feeling of respect for him 
clings to me still. To this hour I never see him controlling 
his fiery steed without investing him with some of the 
attributes which I discerned in him during my childhood. 
It is evident to me that the next heroes whom poets will ex- 
ploit will be the drivers of our railway trains and the pilots 
of our ocean steamers. One poet has, indeed, made a begin- 
ning already,— and this poet the Secretary of State of the 
United States under whom I am now serving, the Hon. 
John Hay. Still another poet, honored throughout the 



LIFE AT MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY- 1857 -18G4 253 

world, has also found a hero in the engine-driver, and 
Kudyard KijDling will no doubt be followed by others. 

But my dream of becoming a locomotive-driver faded, 
and while in college I speculated not a little as to what, 
after all, should be my profession. The idea of becoming 
a clergyman had long since left my mind. The medical 
profession had never attracted me. For the legal profes- 
sion I sought to prepare myself somewhat, but as I saw it 
practised by the vast majority of lawyers, it seemed a 
waste of all that was best in human life. Politics were 
from an early period repulsive to me, and, after my first 
sight of Washington in its shabby, sleazy, dirty, unkempt 
condition under the old slave oligarchy, political life be- 
came absolutely repugnant to my tastes and desires. At 
times a longing came over me to settle down in the coun- 
try, to make an honest living from a farm— a longing 
which took its origin in a visit which I had made as a child 
to the farm of an uncle who lived upon the shores of 
Seneca Lake. He was a man of culture, who, by the aid 
of a practical farmer and an income from other sources, 
got along very well. His roomy, old-fashioned house, his 
pleasant library, his grounds sloping to the lake, his 
peach-orchard, which at my visit was filled with delicious 
fruit, and the pleasant paths through the neighboring 
woods captivated me, and for several years the agricul- 
tural profession lingered in my visions as the most attrac- 
tive of all. 

As I now look back to my early manhood, it seems that 
my natural inclination should have been toward journal- 
ism ; but although such a career proves attractive to many 
of our best university-bred men now, it was not so then. 
In those days men did not prepare for it; they drifted 
into it. I do not think that at my graduation there was 
one out of the one hundred and eight members of my class 
who had the slightest expectation of permanently connect- 
ing himself with a newspaper. This seems all the more 
singular since that class has since produced a large num- 
ber of prominent journalists, and among these George 



254 AS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR-I 

Washburne Smalley, the most eminent, by far, among 
American newspaper correspondents of our time; Evarts 
Greene, a leading editor of Worcester; Delano Goddard, 
late editor of the "Boston Advertiser"; Kinsley Twining, 
for a considerable time an editor of the "Independent"; 
Isaac Bromley, who for years delighted the Republican 
party with his contributions to the editorial page of the 
"Tribune"; Dr. James Morris Whiton, a leading writer 
for the ' ' Outlook ' ' ; and others. Yet in those days probably 
not one of these ever thought of turning to journalism as 
a career. There were indeed at that time eminent editors, 
like Weed, Croswell, Greeley, Raymond, and Webb, but 
few college-bred men thought of journalism as a profes- 
sion. Looking back upon all this, I feel certain that, were 
I to begin life again with my present experience, that 
would be the career for which I would endeavor to fit my- 
self. It has in it at present many admirable men, but far 
more who are manifestly unfit. Its capacities for good or 
evil are enormous, yet the majority of those at present in 
it seem to me like savages who have found a watch. I 
can think of no profession in which young men properly 
fitted— gifted with ideas and inspired by a real wish to do 
something for their land and time— can more certainly do 
good work and win distinction. To supplant the present 
race of journalistic prostitutes, who are making many of 
our newspapers as foul in morals, as low in tone, and as 
vile in utterance as even the worst of the French press, 
might well be the ambition of leading thinkers in any of 
our universities. There is nothing so greatly needed in 
our country as an uplifting of the daily press, and there 
is no work promising better returns. 

But during my student life in Paris and Berlin another 
vista began to open before me. I had never lost that re- 
spect for the teaching profession which had been aroused 
in my childhood by the sight of Principal Woolworth en- 
throned among the students of Cortland Academy, and 
this early impression was now greatly deepened by my 
experience at the Sorbonne, the College of France, and the 



LIFE AT MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY-1857-1864 255 

University of Berlin. My favorite studies at Yale had 
been history and kindred subjects, but these had been 
taught mainly from text-books. Lectures were few and 
dry. Even those of President Woolsey were not inspir- 
ing; he seemed paralyzed by the system of which he 
formed a part. But men like Arnould, St. Marc Girardin, 
and Laboulaye in France, and Lepsius, Ritter, von Rau- 
mer, and Curtius in Germany, lecturing to large bodies of 
attentive students on the most interesting and instructive 
periods of human history, aroused in me a new current of 
ideas. Gradually I began to ask myself the question : Why 
not help the beginnings of this system in the United States ? 
I had long felt deeply the shortcomings of our American 
universities, and had tried hard to devise something better ; 
yet my ideas as to what could really be done to improve 
them had been crude and vague. But now, in these great 
foreign universities, one means of making a reform be- 
came evident, and this was, first of all, the substitution of 
lectures for recitations, and the creation of an interest 
in history by treating it as a living subject having rela- 
tions to present questions. Upon this I reflected much, 
and day by day the idea grew upon me. So far as I can 
remember, there was not at that time a professor of his- 
tory pure and simple in any American university. There 
had been courses of historical lectures at a few institutions, 
but they were, as a rule, spasmodic and perfunctory. How 
history was taught at Yale is shown in another chapter of 
these reminiscences. The lectures of President Sparks 
had evidently trained up no school of historical professors 
at Harvard. There had been a noted professor at William 
and Mary College, Virginia,— doubtless, in his time, the 
best historical lecturer in the United States,— Dr. William 
Dew, the notes of whose lectures, as afterward published, 
were admirable; but he had left no successor. Francis 
Lieber, at the University of South Carolina, had taught 
political philosophy with much depth of thought and 
wealth of historical illustration ; but neither there nor else- 
where did there exist anything like systematic courses in 



256 AS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR-I 

history such as have now been developed in so many of 
our universities and colleges. 

During my stay as resident graduate at Yale after my 
return from Europe in 1856, I often discussed the subject 
with my old friend and companion Gilman, now president 
of the Carnegie Institution, and with my beloved instruc- 
tor, Professor Porter. Both were kind enough to urge me 
to remain at New Haven, assuring me that in time a profes- 
sorship would be established. To promote this I wrote an 
article on "German Instruction in General History," 
which was well received when published in the ' ' New Eng- 
lander, " and prepared sundry lectures, which were re- 
ceived by the university people and by the New York press 
more favorably than I now think they deserved. But there 
seemed, after all, no chance for a professorship devoted to 
this line of study. More and more, too, I felt that even if I 
were called to a historical professorship at Yale, the old- 
fashioned orthodoxy which then prevailed must fetter me : 
I could not utter the shibboleths then demanded, and the 
future seemed dark indeed. Yet my belief in the value 
of better historical instruction in our universities grew 
more and more, and a most happy impulse was now given 
to my thinking by a book which I read and reread— 
Stanley's "Life of Arnold." It showed me much, but 
especially two things: first, how effective history might 
be made in bringing young men into fruitful trains of 
thought regarding present politics; and, secondly, how 
real an influence an earnest teacher might thus exercise 
upon his country. 

While in this state of mind I met my class assembled at 
the Yale commencement of 1856 to take the master's de- 
gree in course, after the manner of those days. This was 
the turning-point with me. I had been for some time more 
and more uneasy and unhappy because my way did not 
seem to clear; but at this commencement of 1856, while 
lounging among my classmates in the college yard, I heard 
some one say that President Wayland of Brown University 
was addressing the graduates in the Hall of the Alumni. 



LIFE AT MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY-1857-1864 257 

Going to the door, I looked in, and saw at the high table an 
old man, strong-featured, heavy-browed, with spectacles 
resting on the top of his head, and just at that moment he 
spoke very impressively as follows: "The best field of 
work for graduates is now in the West; our country is 
shortly to arrive at a switching-ofr" place for good or evil ; 
our Western States are to hold the balance of power in 
the Union, and to determine whether the country shall 
become a blessing or a curse in human history. ' ' 

I had never seen him before ; I never saw him afterward. 
His speech lasted less than ten minutes, but it settled a 
great question for me. I went home and wrote to sundry 
friends that I was a candidate for the professorship of 
history in any Western college where there was a chance 
to get at students, and as a result received two calls— one 
to a Southern university, which I could not accept on ac- 
count of my anti-slavery opinions ; the other to the Univer- 
sity of Michigan, which I accepted. My old college friends 
were kind enough to tender me later the professorship in 
the new School of Art at Yale, but my belief was firm in 
the value of historical studies. The words of Wayland 
rang in my ears, and I went gladly into the new field. 

On arriving at the University of Michigan in October, 
1857, although I had much to do with other students, I took 
especial charge of the sophomore class. It included many 
young men of ability and force, but had the reputation of 
being the most unmanageable body which had been known 
there in years. Thus far it had been under the charge of 
tutors, and it had made life a burden to them. Its prepa- 
ration for the work I sought to do was wretchedly imper- 
fect. Among my duties was the examination of entrance 
classes in modern geography as a preliminary to their ad- 
mission to my course in history, and I soon discovered a 
serious weakness in the public-school system. In her pre- 
paratory schools the State of Michigan took especial 
pride, but certainly at that time they were far below 
their reputation. If any subject was supposed to be 
thoroughly taught in them it was geography, but I soon 

L— 17 



258 AS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR- 1 

found that in the great majority of my students there was 
not a trace of real knowledge of physical geography and 
very little of political. With this state of things I at once 
grappled, and immediately "conditioned" in these studies 
about nine tenths of the entering class. At first there were 
many protests ; but I said to my ingenuous youths that no 
pedantic study was needed, that all I required was a prepa- 
ration such as would enable any one of them to read intel- 
ligently his morning newspaper, and to this end I advised 
each one of them to accept his conditions, to abjure all 
learning by rote from text-books, to take up simply any 
convenient atlas which came to hand, studying first the 
map of our own country, with its main divisions, physical 
and political, its water communications, trend of coasts, 
spurring of mountains, positions of leading cities, etc., and 
then to do the same thing with each of the leading coun- 
tries of Europe, and finally with the other main divisions 
of the world. To stimulate their interest and show them 
what was meant, I gave a short course of lectures on 
physical geography, showing some of its more striking 
effects on history; then another course on political geog- 
raphy, with a similar purpose; and finally notified my 
young men that they were admitted to my classes in his- 
tory only under condition that, six weeks later, they should 
pass an examination in geography, full, satisfactory, and 
final. The young fellows now took their conditions very 
kindly, for they clearly saw the justice of them. One 
young man said to me: "Professor, you are entirely right 
in conditioning me, but I was never so surprised in my 
life ; if there was anything which I supposed I knew well 
it was geography ; why, I have taught it, and very success- 
fully, in a large public school. ' ' On my asking him how he 
taught a subject in which he was so deficient, he answered 
that he had taught his pupils to "sing" it. I replied that if 
he would sing the answers to my questions, I would admit 
him at once ; but this he declined, saying that he much pre- 
ferred to accept the conditions. In about six weeks I held 
the final examinations, and their success amazed us all. 



LIFE AT MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY-1857-1864 259 

Not a man failed, and some really distinguished them- 
selves. They had all gone at the work cordially and heart- 
ily, arranging themselves in squads and clubs for mutual 
study and examination on each physical and political map ; 
and it is certain that by this simple, common-sense method 
they learned more in six weeks than they had previously 
learned in years of plodding along by rote, day after day, 
through text-books. 

Nor was this mere ' ' cram. ' ' Their geographical know- 
ledge lasted and was increased, as was proved at my his- 
torical examinations afterward. 

I soon became intensely interested in my work, and 
looked forward to it every day with pleasure. The first 
part of it was instruction in modern history as a basis for 
my lectures which were to follow, and for this purpose I 
used with the sophomores two text-books. The first of 
these was Robertson's "Philosophical View of the Middle 
Ages," which forms the introduction to his "Life of 
Charles the Fifth." Although superseded in many of 
its parts by modern investigation, very defective in sev- 
eral important matters, and in some things— as, for exam- 
ple, in its appreciation of medieval literature— entirely 
mistaken, it was, when written one hundred years ago, 
recognized as a classic, and it remains so to this day. It 
was a work of genius. Supplemented by elucidations and 
extensions, it served an admirable purpose in introducing 
my students to the things really worth knowing in modern 
history, without confusing them with masses of pedantic 
detail. 

The next text-book which I took up was Dr. John Lord's 
"Modern History," the same which President Woolsey 
had used with my class during its senior year at Yale. It 
was imperfect in every respect, with no end of gaps and 
errors, but it had one real merit— it interested its readers. 
It was, as every such work ought to be, largely biographic. 
There was enthusiasm, a sort of " go, " in Dr. Lord, and 
this quality he had communicated to his book, so that, with 
all its faults, it formed the best basis then obtainable for 



260 AS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR-I 

further instruction. Its omissions and errors I sought to 
rectify— as Woolsey, I am sorry to say, had never done to 
any extent— by offhand talks and by pointing out supple- 
mentary reading, such as sundry chapters of Gibbon and 
Hallam, essays by Macaulay, extracts from Lingard, 
Ranke, Prescott, Motley, and others. Once a fortnight 
through the winter, the class assembled at my house "so- 
cially, ' ' the more attractive young women of the little city 
being invited to meet them ; but the social part was always 
preceded by an hour and a half's reading of short passages 
from eminent historians or travelers, bearing on our class- 
room work during the previous fortnight. These pas- 
sages were read by students whom I selected for the 
purpose, and they proved useful from the historical, liter- 
ary, and social point of view. 

For the class next above, the juniors, I took for text- 
book preparation Guizot's "History of Civilization in 
Europe"— a book tinged with the doctrinairism of its 
author, but a work of genius; a great work, stimulating 
new trains of thought, and opening new vistas of know- 
ledge. This, with sundry supplementary talks, and with 
short readings from Gibbon, Thierry, Guizot's "History 
of Civilization in France," and Sir James Stephen's 
"Lectures on French History," served an excellent pur- 
pose. 

Nor was the use of Guizot's book entirely confined to 
historical purposes. Calling attention to the Abbe Bau- 
tain's little book on extemporaneous speaking, as the best 
treatise on the subject I had ever seen, I reminded my 
students that these famous lectures of Guizot, which had 
opened a new epoch in modern historical investigation and 
instruction, were given, as regards phrasing, extempora- 
neously, but that, as regards matter, they were carefully 
prepared beforehand, having what Bautain calls a "self- 
developing order"; and I stated that I would allow any 
member of my class who might volunteer for the purpose 
to give, in his own phrasing, the substance of an entire 
lecture. For a young man thus to stand up and virtually 



LIFE AT MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY- 1857 -1864 2G1 

deliver one of Guizot's lectures required great concentra- 
tion of thought and considerable facility in expression, but 
several students availed themselves of the permission, and 
acquitted themselves admirably. This seemed to me an 
excellent training for effective public speaking, and sev- 
eral of my old students, who have since distinguished 
themselves in public life, have confessed to me that they 
found it so. 

My next and highest duty was giving lectures to the 
senior class and students from the law school. Into this 
I threw myself heartily, and soon had the satisfaction of 
seeing my large lecture-room constantly full. The first 
of these courses was on the "Development of Civilization 
during the Middle Ages ' ' ; and, as I followed the logical 
rather than the chronological order,— taking up the sub- 
ject, not by a recital of events, but by a discussion of 
epochs and subjects,— I thought it best to lecture without 
manuscript or even notes. This was, for me, a bold ven- 
ture. I had never before attempted anything in the way 
of extended extemporaneous speaking; and, as I entered 
the old chapel of the university for my first lecture, and 
saw it full of students of all classes, I avowed my trepida- 
tion to President Tappan, who, having come to introduce 
me, was seated by my side. He was an admirable extem- 
poraneous speaker in the best sense, and he then and there 
gave me a bit of advice which proved of real value. He 
said : ' ' Let me, as an old hand, tell you one thing : never 
stop dead; keep saying something." This course of lec- 
tures was followed by others on modern history, one of 
these being on "German History from the Revival of 
Learning and the Reformation to Modern Times," an- 
other on "French History from the Consolidation of the 
Monarchy to the French Revolution, ' ' and still another on 
the "French Revolution." To this latter course I gave 
special attention, the foundation having been laid for it 
in France, where I had visited various interesting places 
and talked with interesting men who recalled events and 
people of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods. For 



262 AS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR-I 

a text-book foundation I read with my lower classes 
Mignet's "History of the Revolution," which still re- 
mained what Carlyle pronounced it— the best short sum- 
mary of that great period. 

To further the work of my students in the lecture-room, 
I published an interleaved syllabus of each course, and 
was, I think, the first person in our country who ever did 
this in connection with historical lectures. It is a matter 
of wonder to me that so few professors in these days resort 
to this simple means of strengthening their instruction. 
It ought to be required by university statutes. It seems 
to me indispensable to anything like thorough work. A 
syllabus, properly interleaved, furnishes to a student by 
far the best means of taking notes on each lecture, as well 
as of reviewing the whole course afterward, and to a pro- 
fessor the best means of testing the faithfulness of his 
students. As regards myself personally, there came to 
me from my syllabus an especial advantage ; for, as I have 
shown in my political experiences, it gained for me the 
friendship of Charles Sumner. 

I have stated elsewhere that my zeal in teaching history 
was by no means the result of a mere liking for that field 
of thought. Great as was my love for historical studies, 
there was something I prized far more— -and that was the 
opportunity to promote a better training in thought re- 
garding our great national problems then rapidly ap- 
proaching solution, the greatest of all being the question 
between the supporters and opponents of slavery. 

In order that my work might be fairly well based, I had, 
during my college days and my first stay abroad, begun 
collecting the private library which has added certainly 
to the pleasures, and probably to the usefulness, of my 
life. Books which are now costly rarities could then be 
bought in the European capitals for petty sums. There 
is hardly any old European city which has not been, at 
some time, one of my happy hunting-grounds in the chase 
for rare books bearing upon history; even now, when 
my collection, of which the greater part has been trans- 



LIFE AT MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY- 1857 -1864 263 

ferred to Cornell University, numbers not far short of 
forty thousand volumes, the old passion still flames up at 
times; and during the inditing of this chapter I have 
secured two series of manuscripts of very great value in 
illustrating the evolution of modern civilization. My rea- 
son for securing such original material was not the desire 
to possess rarities and curiosities. I found that passages 
actually read from important originals during my lectures 
gave a reality and vividness to my instruction which were 
otherwise unattainable. A citation of the ipsissima verba 
of Erasmus, or Luther, or Melanchthon, or Peter Canisius, 
or Louis XIV, or Robespierre, or Marat, interested my 
students far more than any quotation at second hand could 
do. No rhetoric could impress on a class the real spirit 
and strength of the middle ages as could one of my illu- 
minated psalters or missals; no declamation upon the 
boldness of Luther could impress thinking young men as 
did citations from his ' ' Erfurt Sermon, ' ' which, by weak- 
ening his safe-conduct, put him virtually at the mercy of 
his enemies at the Diet of Worms ; no statements as to the 
fatuity of Robespierre could equal citations from an origi- 
nal copy of his " Report on the Moral and Religious 
Considerations which Ought to Govern the Republic"; all 
specifications of the folly of Marat paled before the 
ravings in the original copies of his newspaper, "L'Ami 
du Peuple"; no statistics regarding the paper-money 
craze in France could so impress its actuality on students 
as did the seeing and handling of French revolutionary 
assignats and mandats, many of them with registration 
numbers clearly showing the enormous quantities of this 
currency then issued; no illustration, at second hand, 
of the methods of the French generals during the Revo- 
lutionary period could produce the impression given 
by a simple exhibition of the broadsides issued by the 
proconsuls of that period; no description of the col- 
lapse of the triumvirate and the Reign of Terror could 
equal a half-hour's reading from the "Moniteur"; 
and all accounts of the Empire were dim compared 



264 AS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR- 1 

to grandiose statements read from the original bulletins 
of Napoleon. 

In this way alone can history be made real to students. 
Both at my lectures and in the social gatherings at my 
house, I laid out for my classes the most important origi- 
nals bearing upon their current work ; and it was no small 
pleasure to point out the relations of these to the events 
which had formed the subject of our studies together. I 
say ' ' our studies together, ' ' because no one of my students 
studied more hours than myself. They stimulated me 
greatly. Most of them were very near my own age ; sev- 
eral were older. As a rule, they were bright, inquiring, 
zealous, and among them were some of the best minds I 
have ever known. From among them have since come 
senators, members of Congress, judges, professors, law- 
yers, heads of great business enterprises, and foreign 
ministers. One of them became my successor in the pro- 
fessorship in the University of Michigan and the presi- 
dency of Cornell, and, in one field, the leading American 
historian of his time. Another became my predecessor in 
the embassy to Germany.- Though I had what might be 
fairly called ' ' a good start ' ' of these men, it was necessary 
to work hard to maintain my position ; but such labor was 
then pleasure. 

Nor was my work confined to historical teaching. After 
the fashion of that time, I was called upon to hear the 
essays and discussions of certain divisions of the upper 
classes. This demanded two evenings a week through two 
terms in each year, and on these evenings I joyfully went 
to my lecture-room, not infrequently through drifts of 
snow, and, having myself kindled the fire and lighted the 
lamps, awaited the discussion. This subsidiary work, 
which in these degenerate days is done by janitors, is 
mentioned here as showing the simplicity of a bygone 
period. The discussions thus held were of a higher range 
than any I had known at Yale, and some were decidedly 
original. One deserves especial mention. A controversy 
having arisen in Massachusetts and spread throughout the 



LIFE AT MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY- 1857 -1864 265 

country regarding the erection of a statue of Daniel Web- 
ster in front of the State House at Boston, and bitter op- 
position having been aroused by his seventh-of-March 
speech, two groups of my student-disputants agreed to 
take up this subject and model their speeches upon those 
of Demosthenes and iEschines on the crown, which they 
were then reading in the original. It was a happy thought, 
and well carried out. 



CHAPTER XVI 

UNIVERSITY LIFE IN THE WEST — 1857-1864 

IT must be confessed that all was not plain sailing 
in my new position. One difficulty arose from my 
very youthful, not to say boyish, appearance. I was, 
indeed, the youngest member of the faculty; but at 
twenty-four years one has the right to be taken for a 
man, and it was vexatious to be taken for a youth of 
seventeen. At my first arrival in the university town 
I noticed, as the train drew up to the station, a num- 
ber of students, evidently awaiting the coming of such 
freshmen as might be eligible to the various fraternities ; 
and, on landing, I was at once approached by a sophomore, 
who asked if I was about to enter the university. For an 
instant I was grievously abashed, but pulling myself to- 
gether, answered in a sort of affirmative way ; and at this 
he became exceedingly courteous, taking pains to pilot me 
to a hotel, giving me much excellent advice, and even in- 
sisting on carrying a considerable amount of my baggage. 
Other members of fraternities joined us, all most cour- 
teous and kind, and the denouement came only at the 
registration of my name in the hotel book, when they 
recognized in me "the new professor." I must say to 
their credit that, although they were for a time laughed 
at throughout the university, they remained my warm 
personal friends. 

But after I had discharged the duties of my professor- 
ship for a considerable period, this same difficulty existed. 
On a shooting excursion, an old friend and myself came, 

266 



UNIVERSITY LIFE IN THE WEST-1857-1864 267 

during the middle of the afternoon, upon a farm-house, 
and, being very hungry, asked for bread and milk. My 
companion being delayed outside, cleaning the guns, the 
farmer's wife left me and went out to talk with him. I 
continued eating my bread and milk voraciously, and 
shortly afterward they entered, he laughing heartily and 
she looking rather shamefaced. On my asking the cause, 
he declined for a time to state it, but at length said that 
she had come out to warn him that if he did not come in 
pretty soon "that boy would eat up all the bread and milk 
in the house." This story leaked out, and even appeared 
in a local paper, but never, I think, did me any harm. 

Another occurrence, shortly afterward, seemed likely 
for a time to be more serious. The sophomore class, ex- 
uberant and inventive as ever, were evidently determined 
to "try it on" their young professor— in fact, to treat me 
as they had treated their tutors. Any mistake made by a 
student at a quiz elicited from sundry benches expressions 
of regret much too plaintive, or ejaculations of contempt 
much too explosive; and from these and various similar 
demonstrations which grew every day among a certain set 
in my class-room, it was easy to see that a trial of strength 
must soon come, and it seemed to me best to force the 
fighting. Looking over these obstreperous youths I noticed 
one tall, black-bearded man with a keen twinkle in his eye, 
who was evidently the leader. There was nothing in him 
especially demonstrative. He would occasionally nod in 
this direction, or wink in that, or smile in the other ; but 
he was solemn when others were hilarious, unconcerned 
when others applauded. It was soon clear to me that in 
him lay the key to the situation, and one day, at the close 
of the examination, I asked him to remain. When we were 
alone I said to him, in an easy-going way, "So, F- — , I 
see that either you or I must leave the university." He 
at once bristled up, feigned indignation, and said that he 
could not understand me. This I pooh-poohed, saying that 
we understood each other perfectly ; that I had been only 
recently a student myself; that, if the growing trouble in 



268 AS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR- II 

the class continued, either he or I must give it up, and 
added,' 'I believe the trustees will prefer your departure to 
mine." At this he protested that he had made no demon- 
strations, to which I answered that if I put him on his 
honor he would not deny that he was the real center of 
the difficulty ; that the others were, comparatively, men of 
small account; and that, with him gone, the backbone of 
the whole difficulty would be broken. He seemed im- 
pressed by this view— possibly he was not wholly dis- 
pleased at the importance it gave him; and finally he ac- 
knowledged that perhaps he had been rather foolish, and 
suggested that we try to live together a little longer. I an- 
swered cordially, we shook hands at parting, and there 
was never any trouble afterward. I soon found what sort 
of questions interested him most, took especial pains to 
adapt points in my lectures to his needs, and soon had no 
stronger friend in the university. 

But his activity finally found a less fortunate outcome. 
A year or two afterward came news of a terrible affair in 
the university town. A student was lying dead at the 
coroner's rooms, and on inquiry it was found that his 

death was the result of a carousal in which my friend F 

was a leading spirit. Eight men were concerned, of 
whom four were expelled— F being one— and four sus- 
pended. On leaving, he came to me and thanked me most 
heartily for what I had done for him, said that the action 
of the faculty was perfectly just, that no other course was 
open to us, but that he hoped yet to show us all that he 
could make a man of himself. He succeeded. Five years 
later he fell as a general at the head of his brigade at 
Gettysburg. 

In addition to my regular work at the university, I lec- 
tured frequently in various cities throughout Michigan 
and the neighboring States. It was the culminating period 
of the popular-lecture system, and through the winter 
months my Friday and Saturday evenings were generally 
given to this sort of duty. It was, after its fashion, what 
in these days is called " university extension"; indeed, the 



UNIVERSITY LIFE IN THE WEST -1857 -1864 269 

main purpose of those members of the faculty thus in- 
vited to lecture was to spread the influence of the univer- 
sity. But I received from the system more than I gave to 
it; for it gave me not only many valuable acquaintances 
throughout the West, but it brought to Ann Arbor the best 
men then in the field, among them such as Emerson, Cur- 
tis, Wbipple, Wendell Phillips, Carl Schurz, Moncure 
Conway, Bayard Taylor, and others noted then, but, alas, 
how few of them remembered now ! To have them by my 
fireside and at my table was one of the greatest pleasures 
of a professorial life. It was at the beginning of my 
housekeeping; and under my roof on the university 
grounds we felt it a privilege to welcome these wise men 
from the East, and to bring the faculty and students into 
closer relation's with them. 

As regards the popular-lecture pulpit, my main wish 
was to set people thinking on various subjects, and espe- 
cially regarding slavery and "protection." This pres- 
ently brought a storm upon me. Some years before there 
had settled in the university town a thin, vociferous law- 
yer, past his prime, but not without ideas and force. He 
had for many years been a department subordinate at 
Washington ; but, having accumulated some money, he had 
donned what was then known as senatorial costume- 
namely, a blue swallow-tailed coat, and a buff vest, with 
brass buttons— and coming to this little Michigan town, 
he had established a Whig paper, which afterward became 
Republican. He was generally credited, no doubt justly, 
with a determination to push himself into the United 
States Senate ; but this determination was so obvious that 
people made light of it, and he never received the honor 
of a nomination to that or any other position. The main 
burden of his editorials was the greatness of Henry Clay, 
and the beauties of a protective tariff, his material being 
largely drawn from a book he had published some years 
before; and, on account of the usual form of his argu- 
ments, he was generally referred to, in the offhand West- 
ern way, as "Old Statistics." 



270 AS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR-II 

In a public lecture based upon my Russian experiences, 
I had incidentally attacked paternal government, and es- 
pecially such developments of it as tariffs for protec- 
tion. The immediate result was a broadside from this 
gentleman 's paper, and this I answered in an article which 
was extensively copied throughout the State. At this he 
evidently determined to crush this intruder upon his do- 
main. That an "upstart"— a "mere school-teacher"— 
should presume to reply to a man like himself, who had 
sat at the feet of Henry Clay, and was old enough to be 
my father, was monstrous presumption; but that a pro- 
fessor in the State university of a commonwealth largely 
Republican should avow free-trade opinions was akin to 
treason, and through twelve successive issues of his 
paper he lashed me in all the moods and tenses. As these 
attacks soon became scurrilous, I made no reply to any 
after the first; but his wrath was increased when he saw 
my reply quoted by the press throughout the State and his 
own diatribes neglected. Among his more serious charges 
I remember but one, and this was that I had evidently 
come into the State as a secret emissary of Van Buren- 
ism. But I recalled the remark of my enemy's idol, Henry 
Clay, to the effect that no one should ever reply to an 
attack by an editor, a priest, or a woman, since each of 
them is sure to have the last word. This feeling was soon 
succeeded by indifference; for my lecture-rooms, both at 
the university and throughout the State, were more and 
more frequented, and it became clear that my opponent's 
attacks simply advertised me. The following year I had 
my revenge. From time to time debates on current topics 
were held at the city hall, the participants being generally 
young professional men; but, the subject of a tariff for 
protection having been announced, my old enemy declared, 
several weeks beforehand, his intention of taking part in 
the discussion. Among my students that winter was one 
of the most gifted young scholars and speakers I have 
ever known. Not long after his graduation he was sent 
to the United States Senate from one of the more impor- 



UNIVERSITY LIFE IN THE WEST -1857 -1864 271 

taut Western States, and nothing but his early death pre- 
vented his attaining a national reputation. He was a man 
of convictions, strong and skilful in impressing them upon 
his hearers, of fine personal appearance, with a pleasing 
voice, and in every way fitted to captivate an audience. 
Him I selected as the David who was to punish the pro- 
tectionist Goliath. He had been himself a protectionist, 
having read Greeley's arguments in the "New York 
Tribune, ' ' but he had become a convert to my views, and 
day after day and week after week I kept him in train- 
ing on the best expositions of free trade, and, above all, on 
Bastiat's "Sophisms of Protection." On the appointed 
evening the city hall was crowded, and my young David 
having modestly taken a back seat, the great Goliath ap- 
peared at the front in full senatorial costume, furbished 
up for the occasion, with an enormous collection of books 
and documents; and, the subject being announced, he arose, 
assumed his most imposing senatorial attitude, and began 
a dry, statistical oration. His manner was harsh, his 
matter wearisome; but he plodded on through an hour 
—and then my David arose. He was at his best. In 
five minutes he had the audience fully with him. Every 
point told. From time to time the house shook with ap- 
plause ; and at the close of the debate, a vote of the meeting 
being taken after the usual fashion in such assemblies, my 
old enemy was left in a ridiculous minority. Not only 
free-traders, but even protectionists voted against him. 
As he took himself very seriously, he was intensely morti- 
fied, and all the more so when he learned from one of my 
students that I now considered that we were ' ' even. ' ' 1 

The more I threw myself into the work of the university 
the more I came to believe in the ideas on which it was 
founded, and to see that it was a reality embodying many 
things of which I had previously only dreamed. Up to 
that time the highest institutions of learning in the United 
States were almost entirely under sectarian control. Even 

1 The causes of my change of views on the question of "protection" 
are given in my political reminiscences. 



272 AS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR-II 

the University of Virginia, which Thomas Jefferson had 
founded as a center of liberal thought, had fallen under 
the direction of sectarians, and among the great majority 
of the Northern colleges an unwritten law seemed to re- 
quire that a university president should be a clergyman. 
The instruction in the best of these institutions was, as I 
have shown elsewhere, narrow, their methods outworn, 
and the students, as a rule, confined to one simple, single, 
cast-iron course, in which the great majority of them took 
no interest. The University of Michigan had made a 
beginning of something better. The president was Dr. 
Henry Philip Tappan, formerly a Presbyterian clergy- 
man, a writer of repute on philosophical subjects, a strong 
thinker, an impressive orator, and a born leader of men, 
who, during a visit to Europe, had been greatly impressed 
by the large and liberal system of the German universi- 
ties, and had devoted himself to urging a similar system 
in our own country. On the Eastern institutions— save, 
possibly, Brown— he made no impression. Each of them 
was as stagnant as a Spanish convent, and as self-satisfied 
as a Bourbon duchy; but in the West he attracted sup- 
porters, and soon his ideas began to show themselves ef- 
fective in the State university over which he had been 
called to preside. 

The men he summoned about him were, in the main, 
admirably fitted to aid him. Dearest of all to me, though 
several years my senior, was Henry Simmons Frieze, pro- 
fessor of Latin. I had first met him at the University of 
Berlin, had then traveled with him through Germany and 
Italy, and had found him one of the most charming men 
I had ever met— simple, modest, retiring to a fault, yet a 
delightful companion and a most inspiring teacher. There 
was in him a combination which at first seemed singular ; 
but experience has since shown me that it is by no means 
unnatural, for he was not only an ideal professor of Latin, 
but a gifted musician. The first revelation of this latter 
quality was made to me in a manner which showed his 
modesty. One evening during our student days at Berlin, 



UNIVERSITY LIFE IN THE WEST- 1857-1864 273 

at a reception given by the American minister of that 
period, — Governor Vroom of New Jersey,— I heard the 
sound of music coming from one of the more distant 
apartments. It was a sonata of Beethoven, wonderfully 
interpreted, showing not only skill but deep feeling. On 
my asking my neighbors who the performer might be, 
no one seemed to know, until, at last, some one suggested 
that it might be Professor Frieze. I made my way through 
the crowd toward the room from which the sounds came, 
but before arriving there the music had ended ; and when I 
met the professor shortly afterward, and asked him if he 
had been the musician, his reply was so modest and eva- 
sive that I thought the whole thing a mistake and said no- 
thing more about it. On our way to Italy some months 
later, I observed that, as we were passing through Bohemia, 
he jotted down in his note-book the quaint songs of the 
peasants and soldiers, and a few weeks later still he gave an 
exhibition of his genius. Sitting down one evening at the 
piano on the little coasting steamer between Genoa and 
Civita Vecchia, he began playing, and though it has 
been my good fortune to hear all the leading pianists 
of my time, I have never heard one who seemed to inter- 
pret the masterpieces of music more worthily. At Ann Ar- 
bor I now came to know him intimately. Once or twice a 
week he came to my house, and, as mine was the only grand 
piano in the town, he enjoyed playing upon it. His ex- 
temporizations were flights of genius. At these gatherings 
he was inspired by two other admirable musicians, one 
being my dear wife, and the other Professor Brunnow, the 
astronomer. Nothing could be more delightful than their 
interpretations together of the main works of Beethoven, 
Handel, Mozart, Haydn, Weber, and other masters. On 
one of these evenings, when I happened to speak of the 
impression made upon me at my first hearing of a choral 
in a German church, Frieze began playing Luther's hymn, 
"Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott," throwing it into all 
forms and keys, until we listened to his improvisations 
in a sort of daze which continued until nearly midnight. 

I. -18 



274 AS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR-II 

Next day, at St. Andrew 's Church, he, as usual, had charge 
of the organ. Into his opening voluntary he wove the 
music of the preceding evening, the "Feste Burg"; it 
ran through all the chants of the morning service ; it per- 
vaded the accompaniment to the hymns; it formed the 
undertone of all the interludes; it was not relinquished 
until the close of the postlude. And the same was true of 
the afternoon service. I have always insisted that, had he 
lived in Germany, he would have been a second Beethoven. 
This will seem a grossly exaggerated tribute, but I do not 
hesitate to maintain it. So passionately was he devoted 
to music that at times he sent his piano away from his 
house in order to shun temptation to abridge his profes- 
sorial work, and especially was this the case when he was 
preparing his edition of Vergil. A more lovely spirit 
never abode in mortal frame. No man was ever more 
generally beloved in a community ; none, more lamented at 
his death. The splendid organ erected as a memorial to 
him in the great auditorium of the university; the noble 
monument which his students have placed over his grave ; 
his portrait, which hangs in one of the principal rooms; 
the society which commemorates his name— all combine 
to show how deeply he was respected and beloved. 

Entwined also with my happiest recollections is Brun- 
now, professor of astronomy and director of the observa- 
tory. His eminence in his department was widely rec- 
ognized, as was shown when he was afterward made 
director of the Dudley Observatory at Albany, N. Y., and, 
finally, astronomer royal of Ireland. His musical abilities, 
in connection with those of Frieze, aided to give a delight- 
ful side to this period of my life. There was in him a quiet 
simplicity which led those who knew him best to love him 
most, but it occasionally provoked much fun among the 
students. On one occasion, President Tappan, being sud- 
denly called out of town, requested Brunnow, who had 
married his daughter and was an inmate of his family, to 
find some member of the faculty to take his place at morn- 
ing prayers next day. Thereupon Brunnow visited sev- 



UNIVERSITY LIFE IN THE WEST-1857-18G4 275 

eral professors, his first question to each of them being, 
with his German use of the consonants, "Professor, can 
you bray?" and henceforward this was added to the many 
standing jokes upon him in the student world. 

I also found at the university other admirable men, and 
among those to whom I became specially attached was 
Thomas M. Cooley. When he had become chief justice 
of the State, and the most eminent writer of his time on the 
Constitution of the United States, he was still the same 
man, gentle, simple, and kindly. Besides these were 
such well-known professors as Fasquelle in modern lit- 
erature; Williams, Douglass, and Winchell in science; 
Boise in Greek; Palmer, Sager, and Gunn in medicine 
and surgery; Campbell and Walker in law. Of these 
Judge Campbell was to me one of the main attractions 
of the place— a profound lawyer, yet with a kindly humor 
which lighted up all about him. He was especially inter- 
ested in the early French history of the State, to which he 
had been drawn by his study of the titles to landed prop- 
erty in Detroit and its neighborhood, and some of his dis- 
coveries were curious. One of these had reference to an 
island in the straits near Detroit known as ' ' Skillagalee, ' ' 
which had puzzled him a long time. The name seemed to be 
Irish, and the question was how an Irish name could have 
been thus applied. Finally he found on an old map an ear- 
lier name. It was lie aux Galets, or Pebble Island, which, in 
the mouths of Yankee sailors, had taken this apparently 
Celtic form. Another case was that of a river in Canada 
emptying into the straits not far from Detroit. It was 
known as "Yellow Dog River"; but, on rummaging 
through the older maps, he discovered that the earlier 
name was River St. John. To account for the transfor- 
mation was at first difficult, but the mystery was finally 
unraveled: the Riviere St. Jean became, in the Canadian 
patois, Riviere Saan Jawne, and gradually Riviere Chien 
Jaune; recent geographers had simply translated it into 
English. 

The features which mainly distinguished the University 



276 AS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR- II 

of Michigan from the leading institutions of the East 
were that it was utterly unsectarian, that various courses 
of instruction were established, and that options were al- 
lowed between them. On these accounts that university 
holds a most important place in the history of American 
higher education ; for it stands practically at the beginning 
of the transition from the old sectarian college to the 
modern university, and from the simple, single, cast-iron 
course to the form which we now know, in which various 
courses are presented, with free choice between them. The 
number of students was about five hundred, and the fac- 
ulty corresponded to these in numbers. Now that the 
university includes over four thousand students, with a 
faculty in proportion, those seem the days of small 
things ; but to me at that period it was all very grand. It 
seemed marvelous that there were then very nearly as 
many students at the University of Michigan as at Yale ; 
and, as a rule, they were students worth teaching— hardy, 
vigorous, shrewd, broad, with faith in the greatness of 
the country and enthusiasm regarding the nation 's future. 
It may be granted that there was, in many of them, a 
lack of elegance, but there was neither languor nor cyni- 
cism. One seemed, among them, to breathe a purer, 
stronger air. Over the whole institution Dr. Tappan pre- 
sided, and his influence, both upon faculty and students, 
was, in the main, excellent. He sympathized heartily with 
the work of every professor, allowed to each great liberty, 
yet conducted the whole toward the one great end of de- 
veloping a university more and more worthy of our 
country. His main qualities were of the best. Nothing 
could be better than his discussions of great questions of 
public policy and of education. One of the noblest ora- 
tions I have ever heard was an offhand speech of his on 
receiving for the university museum a cast of the Laocoon 
from the senior class; yet this speech was made without 
preparation, and in the midst of engrossing labor. He 
often showed, not only the higher qualities required in a 
position like his, but a remarkable shrewdness and tact in 



UNIVERSITY LIFE IN THE WEST-1857-18G4 277 

dealing with lesser questions. Typical was one example, 
which taught me much when, in after years, I was called 
to similar duties at Cornell. The present tower and chime 
of the University of Michigan did not then exist ; between 
the two main buildings on the university grounds there 
was simply a wooden column, bearing a bell of moderate 
size, which was rung at every lecture-hour by the principal 
janitor. One cold winter night those of us living in the 
immediate neighborhood heard the sound of axe-strokes. 
Presently there came a crash, and all was still. Next 
morning, at the hour for chapel, no bell was rung; it 
was found that the column had been cut down and the bell 
carried off. A president of less shrewdness would have 
declaimed to the students on the enormity of such a pro- 
cedure, and have accentuated his eloquence with threats. 
Not so Dr. Tappan. At the close of the morning prayers 
he addressed the students humorously. There was a great 
attendance, for all wished to know how he would deal 
with the affair. Nothing could be better than his matter 
and manner. He spoke somewhat on this wise : ' ' Gentle- 
men, there has doubtless been a mistake in the theory of 
some of you regarding the college bell. It would seem 
that some have believed that if the bell were destroyed, 
time would cease, and university exercises would be sus- 
pended. But, my friends, time goes on as ever, without 
the bell as with it; lectures and exercises of every sort 
continue, of course, as usual. The only thing which has 
occurred is that some of you have thought it best to dis- 
pense with the aid in keeping time which the regents of 
the university have so kindly given you. Knowing that 
large numbers of you were not yet provided with watches, 
the regents very thoughtfully provided the bell, and a man 
to ring it for you at the proper hours ; and they will doubt- 
less be pleased to learn that you at last feel able to dis- 
pense with it, and save them the expense of maintaining 
it. You are trying an interesting experiment. In most 
of the leading European universities, students get along 
perfectly without a bell; why should we not? In the in- 



278 AS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR-II 

terests of the finances of the university, I am glad to see 
you trying this experiment, and will only suggest that it 
be tried thoroughly. Of course the rolls will be called in the 
lecture-rooms promptly, as usual, and you will, of course, 
be present. If the experiment succeeds, it will enable us 
to dispense with a university bell forever; but if, after a 
suitable time, you decide that it is better to have the bell 
back again to remind you of the hours, and if you will make 
a proper request to the regents through me, I trust that 
they will allow you to restore it to its former position." 

The students were greatly amused to see the matter 
taken in this way. They laughingly acknowledged them- 
selves outwitted, and greeted the doctor's speech with ap- 
plause. All of the faculty entered into the spirit of the 
matter; rolls were called perhaps rather more promptly 
than formerly, and students not present were marked 
rather more mercilessly than of old. There was evidently 
much reluctance on their part to ask for excuses, in view 
of the fact that they had themselves abolished the bell 
which had enabled them to keep the time; and one morn- 
ing, about a month or six weeks later, after chapel, a big 
jolly student rose and asked permission to make a motion. 
This motion was that the president of the university be 
requested to allow the students to restore the bell to its 
former position. The proposal was graciously received by 
the doctor, put by him after the usual parliamentary man- 
ner, carried unanimously, and, a few mornings later, the 
bell was found in its old place on a new column, was rung 
as usual, and matters went on after the old fashion. 

Every winter Dr. Tappan went before the legislature 
to plead the cause of the university, and to ask for appro- 
priations. He was always heard with pleasure, since he 
was an excellent speaker; but certain things militated 
against him. First of all, he had much to say of the ex- 
cellent models furnished by the great German universities, 
and especially by those of Prussia. This gave demagogues 
in the legislature, anxious to make a reputation in bun- 
combe, a great chance. They orated to the effect that 



UNIVERSITY LIFE IN THE WEST-1857-1864 279 

we wanted an American and not a Prussian system. More- 
over, some unfortunate legends were developed. Mrs. 
Tappan, a noble and lovely woman belonging to the Liv- 
ingston family, had been brought up in New York and 
New England, and could hardly suppress her natural 
preference for her old home and friends. A story grew 
that in an assembly of Michigan ladies she once remarked 
that the doctor and herself considered themselves as ''mis- 
sionaries to the West." This legend spread far and 
wide. It was resented, and undoubtedly cost the doctor 
dear. 

The worst difficulty by far which he had to meet was the 
steady opposition of the small sectarian colleges scattered 
throughout the State. Each, in its own petty interest, 
dreaded the growth of any institution better than itself; 
each stirred the members of the legislature from its local- 
ity to oppose all aid to the State university; each, in its 
religious assemblages, its synods, conferences, and the 
like, sought to stir prejudice against the State institution 
as "godless." The result was that the doctor, in spite of 
his eloquent speeches, became the butt of various wretched 
demagogues in the legislature, and he very rarely secured 
anything in the way of effective appropriations. The uni- 
versity had been founded by a grant of public lands from 
the United States to Michigan ; and one of his arguments 
was based on the fact that an immensely valuable tract, on 
which a considerable part of the city of Toledo now stands, 
had been taken away from the university without any 
suitable remuneration. But even this availed little, and 
it became quite a pastime among demagogues at the 
State Capitol to bait the doctor. On one of these occasions 
he was inspired to make a prophecy. Disgusted at the 
poor, cheap blackguardism, he shook the dust of the legis- 
lature off his feet, and said: "The day will come when my 
students will take your places, and then something will be 
done." That prophecy was fulfilled. In a decade the 
leading men in the legislature began to be the graduates 
of the State university; and now these graduates are 



280 AS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR- II 

largely in control, and they have dealt nobly with their 
alma mater. The State has justly become proud of it, and 
has wisely developed it. 

Dr. Tappan's work was great, indeed. He stood not 
only at the beginning of the institution at Ann Arbor, but 
really at the beginning of the other universities of the 
Western States, from which the country is gaining so 
much at present, and is sure to gain vastly more in the 
future. The day will come when his statue will commem- 
orate his services. 

But there was another feature in his administration to 
which I refer with extreme reluctance. He had certain 
"defects of his qualities." Big, hearty, frank, and gen- 
erous, he easily became the prey of those who wrought 
upon his feelings ; and, in an evil hour, he was drawn into 
a quarrel not his own, between two scientific professors. 
This quarrel became exceedingly virulent; at times it al- 
most paralyzed the university, and finally it convulsed the 
State. It became the main object of the doctor 's thoughts. 
The men who had drawn him into it quietly retired under 
cover, and left him to fight their battle in the open. He 
did this powerfully, but his victories were no less calami- 
tous than his defeats; for one of the professors, when 
overcome, fell back upon the church to which he belonged, 
and its conference was led to pass resolutions warning 
Christian people against the university. The forces of 
those hostile to the institution were marshaled to the sound 
of the sectarian drum. The quarrel at last became politi- 
cal; and when the doctor unwisely entered the political 
field in hopes of defeating the candidates put forward by 
his opponents, he was beaten at the polls, and his resigna- 
tion followed. A small number of us, including Judge 
Cooley and Professors Frieze, Fasquelle, Boise, and my- 
self, simply maintained an "armed neutrality," standing 
by the university, and refusing to be drawn into this 
whirlpool of intrigue and objurgation. Personally, we 
loved the doctor. Every one of us besought him to give up 
the quarrel, but in vain. He would not ; he could not. It 



UNIVERSITY LIFE IN THE WEST -1857 -1864 281 

went on till the crash came. He was virtually driven from 
the State, retired to Europe, and never returned. 

Years afterward, the citizens of Michigan in all parts of 
the State sought to make amends to him. The great body 
of the graduates, who loved and respected him, with lead- 
ing men throughout the commonwealth, joined in a letter 
inviting him to return as a public guest ; but he declined, 
and never again saw his native land. His first main place 
of residence was Basel, where, at the university, he super- 
intended the education of his grandson, who, at a later 
period, became a professor at Heidelberg. Finally, he 
retired to a beautiful villa on the shores of Lake Leman, 
and there, with his family about him, peacefully followed 
his chosen studies. At his death he was buried amid the 
vineyards and orchards of Vevey. 

Though I absolutely refused to be drawn into any of 
his quarrels, my relations with the doctor remained kindly, 
and not a single feeling was left which marred my visit 
to him in after years at Basel, or my later pilgrimage to 
his grave on the shores of Lake Leman. To no man is any 
success I may have afterward had in the administration 
of Cornell University so greatly due as to him. 

In this summary I have hardly touched upon the most 
important part of my duty,— namely, the purpose of my 
lecture-courses, with their relations to that period in the 
history of our country, and to the questions which think- 
ing men, and especially thinking young men, were then en- 
deavoring to solve,— since all this has been given in my 
political reminiscences. 

So much for my main work at the University of Michi- 
gan. But I had one recreation which was not without its 
uses. The little city of Ann Arbor is a beautiful place on 
the Huron River, and from the outset interested me. 
Even its origin had a peculiar charm. About a quarter 
of a century before my arrival, three families came from 
the East to take up the land which they had bought 
of the United States ; and, as their three holdings touched 
each other at one corner, they brought boughs of trees 



282 AS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR- II 

to that spot and erected a sort of hut, or arbor, in which 
to live until their log houses were finished. On com- 
ing together in this arbor they discovered that the 
Christian name of each of the three wives was Ann: 
hence the name of the place; and this fact gave a po- 
etic coloring to it which was a permanent pleasure to 
me. It was an unending satisfaction to reflect that no 
misguided patriot had been allowed to inflict upon that 
charming university town the name of "Athens," or "Ox- 
ford," or "Socratopolis," or ' ' Anacreonsburg, " or "Pla- 
toville, " or ' ' Emporium, " or " Eudaimonia. ' ' What, but 
for those three good women, the name might have been, 
may be judged from the fact that one of the founders of 
the university did his best to have it called a "Katho- 
loepistemiad"! 

But there was one drawback. The ' ' campus, ' ' on which 
stood the four buildings then devoted to instruction, 
greatly disappointed me. It was a flat, square inclo- 
sure of forty acres, unkempt and wretched. Through- 
out its whole space there were not more than a score of 
trees outside the building sites allotted to professors; 
unsightly plank walks connected the buildings, and in 
every direction were meandering paths, which in dry wea- 
ther were dusty and in wet weather muddy. Coming, as 
I did, from the glorious elms of Yale, all this distressed 
me, and one of my first questions was why no trees had 
been planted. The answer was that the soil was so hard 
and dry that none would grow. But on examining 
the territory in the neighborhood, especially the little 
inclosures about the pretty cottages of the town, I found 
fine large trees, and among them elms. At this, without 
permission from any one, I began planting trees within the 
university inclosure ; established, on my own account, sev- 
eral avenues; and set out elms to overshadow them. 
Choosing my trees with care, carefully protecting and 
watering them during the first two years, and gradually 
adding to them a considerable number of evergreens, I 
preached practically the doctrine of adorning the campus. 



UNIVERSITY LIFE IN THE WEST -1857 -1864 283 

Gradually some of my students joined me; one class after 
another aided in securing trees and in planting them, 
others became interested, until, finally, the university 
authorities made me "superintendent of the grounds," 
and appropriated to my work the munificent sum of 
seventy-five dollars a year. So began the splendid growth 
which now surrounds those buildings. These trees became 
to me as my own children. Whenever I revisit Ann Arbor 
my first care is to go among them, to see how they prosper, 
and especially how certain peculiar examples are flourish- 
ing; and at my recent visit, forty-six years after their 
planting, I found one of the most beautiful academic 
groves to be seen in any part of the world. 

The most saddening thing during my connection with 
the university I have touched upon in my political remi- 
niscences. Three years after my arrival the Civil War 
broke out, and there came a great exodus of students into 
the armies, the vast majority taking up arms for the 
Union, and a few for the Confederate States. The very 
noblest of them thus went forth— many of them, alas! 
never to return, and among them not a few whom I loved 
as brothers and even as my own children. Of all the ex- 
periences of my life, this was among the most saddening. 

My immediate connection with the University of Michi- 
gan as resident professor of history lasted about six years ; 
and then, on account partly of business interests which 
resulted from the death of my father, partly of my elec- 
tion to the New York State Senate, and partly of my 
election to the presidency of Cornell University, I resided 
in central New York, but retained a lectureship at the 
Western institution. I left the work and the friends who 
had become so dear to me with the greatest reluctance, and 
as long as possible I continued to revisit the old scenes, 
and to give courses of lectures. But at last my duties at 
Cornell absolutely forbade this, and so ended a connection 
which was to me one of the most fruitful in useful ex- 
periences and pregnant thoughts that I have ever known. 



PART IV 
AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT 



CHAPTER XVII 

EVOLUTION OF "THE CORNELL IDEA"— 1850-1865 

TO Trinity Hall at Hobart College may be assigned 
whatever honor that shadowy personage, the future 
historian, shall think due the place where was conceived 
and quickened the germ idea of Cornell University. In 
that little stone barrack on the shore of Seneca Lake, rude 
in its architecture but lovely in its surroundings, a room 
was assigned me during my first year at college; and in 
a neighboring apartment, with charming views over the 
lake and distant hills, was the library of the Hermean 
Society. It was the largest collection of books I had ever 
seen,— four thousand volumes,— embracing a mass of lit- 
erature from "The Pirate's Own Book" to the works of 
Lord Bacon. In this paradise I reveled, browsing through 
it at my will. This privilege was of questionable value, 
since it drew me somewhat from closer study; but it was 
not without its uses. One day I discovered in it Huber and 
Newman's book on the English universities. What a new 
world it opened! My mind was sensitive to any impres- 
sion it might make, on two accounts : first, because, on the 
intellectual side, I was woefully disappointed at the inade- 
quacy of the little college as regarded its teaching force 
and equipment; and next, because, on the esthetic side, I 
lamented the absence of everything like beauty or fitness in 
its architecture. 

As I read in this new-found book of the colleges at 
Oxford and Cambridge, and pored over the engraved 
views of quadrangles, halls, libraries, chapels, — of all the 

287 



288 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-I 

noble and dignified belongings of a great seat of learning, 
—my heart sank within me. Every feature of the little 
American college seemed all the more sordid. But grad- 
ually I began consoling myself by building air-castles. 
These took the form of structures suited to a great univer- 
sity:— with distinguished professors in every field, with 
libraries as rich as the Bodleian, halls as lordly as that of 
Christ Church or of Trinity, chapels as inspiring as that 
of King's, towers as dignified as those of Magdalen and 
Merton, quadrangles as beautiful as those of Jesus and 
St. John's. In the midst of all other occupations I was 
constantly rearing these structures on that queenly site 
above the finest of the New York lakes, and dreaming of 
a university worthy of the commonwealth and of the na- 
tion. This dream became a sort of obsession. It came 
upon me during my working hours, in the class-rooms, in 
rambles along the lake shore, in the evenings, when I paced 
up and down the walks in front of the college build- 
ings, and saw rising in their place and extending to the 
pretty knoll behind them, the worthy home of a great uni- 
versity. But this university, though beautiful and dig- 
nified, like those at Oxford and Cambridge, was in two 
important respects very unlike them. First, I made 
provision for other studies beside classics and mathe- 
matics. There should be professors in the great modern 
literatures — above all, in our own; there should also be a 
professor of modern history and a lecturer on architec- 
ture. And next, my university should be under control of 
no single religious organization ; it should be free from all 
sectarian or party trammels; in electing its trustees and 
professors no questions should be asked as to their belief 
or their attachment to this or that sect or party. So far, at 
least, I went in those days along the road toward the 
founding of Cornell. 

The academic year of 1849-1850 having been passed at 
this little college in western New York, I entered Yale. 
This was nearer my ideal; for its professors were more 
distinguished, its equipment more adequate, its students 



EVOLUTION OF "THE CORNELL IDEA"- 1850-1865 289 

more numerous, its general scope more extended. But it 
was still far below my dreams. Its single course in clas- 
sics and mathematics, through which all students were 
forced alike, regardless of their tastes, powers, or aims; 
its substitution of gerund-grinding for ancient literature ; 
its want of all instruction in modern literature; its sub- 
stitution of recitals from text-books for instruction in 
history— all this was far short of my ideal. Moreover, 
Yale was then far more under denominational control 
than at present— its president, of necessity, as was then 
supposed, a Congregational minister ; its professors, as a 
rule, members of the same sect; and its tutors, to whom 
our instruction during the first two years was almost 
entirely confined, students in the Congregational Divinity 
School. 

Then, too, its outward representation was sordid and 
poor. The long line of brick barracks, the cheapest which 
could be built for money, repelled me. What a contrast 
to Oxford and Cambridge, and, above all, to my air- 
castles! There were, indeed, two architectural consola- 
tions : one, the library building, which had been built just 
before my arrival ; and the other, the Alumni Hall, begun 
shortly afterward. These were of stone, and I snatched 
an especial joy from the grotesque Gothic heads in the 
cornices of the library towers and from the little latticed 
windows at the rear of the Alumni Hall. Both seemed to 
me features worthy of " colleges and halls of ancient 
days." 

The redeeming feature of the whole was its setting, 
the "green," with superb avenues overarched by elms; 
and a further charm was added by East and West Rock, 
and by the views over New Haven Harbor into Long 
Island Sound. Among these scenes I erected new air- 
castles. First of all, a great quadrangle, not unlike that 
which is now developing at Yale, and, as a leading 
feature, a gate-tower like that since erected in memory 
of William Walter Phelps, but, unlike that, adorned 
with statues in niches and on corbels, like those on the 

I.— 19 



290 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT- 1 

entrance tower of Trinity at Cambridge— statues of old 
Yalensian worthies, such as Elihu Yale in his costume of 
the Georgian period, Bishop Berkeley in his robes, Presi- 
dent Dwight in his Geneva gown, and Nathan Hale in 
fetters. There was also in my dream another special fea- 
ture, which no one has as yet attempted to realize— a lofty 
campanile, which I placed sometimes at the intersection of 
College and Church, and sometimes at the intersection of 
College and Elm streets— a clock-tower looking proudly 
down the slope, over the traffic of the town, and bearing a 
deep-toned peal of bells. 

My general ideas on the subject were further developed 
by Charles Astor Bristed's book, "Five Years in an Eng- 
lish University," and by sundry publications regarding 
student life in Germany. Still, my opinions regarding 
education were wretchedly imperfect, as may be judged 
from one circumstance. The newly established Sheffield 
Scientific School had just begun its career in the old 
president's house in front of the former Divinity Hall on 
the college green ; and, one day in my senior year, looking 
toward it from my window in North College, I saw a 
student examining a colored liquid in a test-tube. A feel- 
ing of wonder came over me ! What could it all be about? 
Probably not a man of us in the whole senior class had 
any idea of a chemical laboratory save as a sort of small 
kitchen back of a lecture-desk, like that in which an assist- 
ant and a colored servant prepared oxygen, hydrogen, and 
carbonic acid for the lectures of Professor Silliman. I 
was told that this new laboratory was intended for experi- 
ment, and my wonder was succeeded by disgust that any 
human being should give his time to pursuits so futile. 

The next period in the formation of my ideas regarding 
a university began, after my graduation at Yale, during 
my first visit to Oxford. Then and at later visits, both to 
Oxford and Cambridge, I not only reveled in the architec- 
tural glories of those great seats of learning, but learned 
the advantages of college life in common— of the "halls," 
and the general social life which they promote; of 



EVOLUTION OF "THE CORNELL IDEA"-1850-1SG5 291 

the "commons" and "combination rooms," which give a 
still closer relation between those most directly concerned 
in university work ; of the quadrangles, which give a sense 
of scholarly seclusion, even in the midst of crowded cities; 
and of all the surroundings which give a dignity befitting 
these vast establishments. Still more marked progress in 
my ideas was made during my attendance at the Sorbonne 
and the College de France. In those institutions, during 
the years 1853-1854, I became acquainted with the French 
university-lecture system, with its clearness, breadth, 
wealth of illustration, and its hold upon large audiences 
of students; and I was seized with the desire to transfer 
something like it to our own country. My castles in the 
air were now reared more loftily and broadly ; for they 
began to include laboratories, museums, and even galleries 
of art. 

Even St. Petersburg, during my attacheship in 1854- 
1855, contributed to these airy structures. In my diary 
for that period, I find it jotted down that I observed and 
studied at various times the Michael Palace in that city as 
a very suitable structure for a university. Twenty years 
afterward, when I visited, as minister of the United 
States, the Grand Duchess Catherine, the aunt of the 
Emperor Alexander III, in that same palace, and men- 
tioned to her my old admiration for it, she gave me a most 
interesting account of the building of it, and of the laying 
out of the beautiful park about it by her father, the old 
Grand Duke Michael, and agreed with me that it would 
be a noble home for an institution of learning. 

My student life at Berlin, during the year following, 
further intensified my desire to do something for univer- 
sity education in the United States. There I saw my ideal 
of a university not only realized, but extended and glori- 
fied—with renowned professors, with ample lecture-halls, 
with everything possible in the way of illustrative ma- 
terials, with laboratories, museums, and a concourse of 
youth from all parts of the world. 

I have already spoken, in the chapter on my professor- 



292 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -I 

ship at the University of Michigan, regarding the influence 
on my ideas of its president, Henry Philip Tappan, and 
of the whole work in that institution. Though many good 
things may be justly said for the University of Virginia, 
the real beginning of a university in the United States, in 
the modern sense, was made by Dr. Tappan and his col- 
leagues at Ann Arbor. Its only defects seemed to me that 
it included no technical side, and did not yet admit 
women. As to the first of these defects, the State had 
separated the agricultural college from the university, 
placing it in what, at that period, was a remote swamp 
near the State Capitol, and had as yet done nothing toward 
providing for other technical branches. As to the second, 
though a few of us favored the admission of women, Presi- 
dent Tappan opposed it; and, probably, in view of the 
condition of the university and of public opinion at that 
time, his opposition was wise. 

Recalled to Syracuse after five years in Michigan, my 
old desire to see a university rising in the State of New 
York was stronger than ever. Michigan had shown me 
some of my ideals made real; why might not our own 
much greater commonwealth be similarly blessed? 

The first thing was to devise a plan for a suitable fac- 
ulty. As I felt that this must not demand too large an 
outlay, I drew up a scheme providing for a few resident 
teachers supported by endowments, and for a body of non- 
resident professors or lecturers supported by fees. These 
lecturers were to be chosen from the most eminent pro- 
fessors in the existing colleges and from the best men then 
in the public-lecture field ; and my confidant in the matter 
was George William Curtis, who entered into it heartily, 
and who afterward, in his speech at my inauguration as 
president of Cornell, referred to it in a way which touched 
me deeply. 1 

The next thing was to decide upon a site. It must nat- 
urally be in the central part of the State; and, rather 

1 See Mr. Curtis's speech, September 8, 1868, published 
by the university. 



EVOLUTION OF "THE CORNELL IDEA"-1850-18G5 293 

curiously, that which I then most coveted, frequently vis- 
ited, walked about, and inspected was the rising ground 
southeast of Syracuse since selected by the Methodists 
for their institution which takes its name from that city. 
My next effort was to make a beginning of an endowment, 
and for this purpose I sought to convert Gerrit Smith. 
He was, for those days, enormously wealthy. His prop- 
erty, which was estimated at from two to three millions 
of dollars, he used munificently; and his dear friend and 
mine, Samuel Joseph May, had told me that it was not too 
much to hope that Mr. Smith might do something for the 
improvement of higher instruction. To him, therefore, I 
wrote, proposing that if he would contribute an equal sum 
to a university at Syracuse, I would give to it one half of 
my own property. In his answer he gave reasons why he 
could not join in the plan, and my scheme seemed no 
nearer reality than my former air-castles. It seemed, in- 
deed, to have faded away like 

" The baseless fabric of a vision " 
and to have left 

" Not a wrack behind "— 

when all its main features were made real in a way and by 
means utterly unexpected; for now began the train of 
events which led to my acquaintance, friendship, and close 
alliance with the man through whom my plans became a 
reality, larger and better than any ever seen in my dreams 
—Ezra Cornell. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

EZRA CORNELL — 1865-1874 

ON the first day of the year 1864, taking my seat for 
the first time in the State Senate at Albany, I found 
among my associates a tall, spare man, apparently very 
reserved and austere, and soon learned his name— Ezra 
Cornell. 

Though his chair was near mine, there was at first little 
intercourse between us, and there seemed small chance of 
more. He was steadily occupied, and seemed to have no 
desire for new acquaintances. He was, perhaps, the oldest 
man in the Senate ; I, the youngest : he was a man of 
business; I was fresh from a university professorship: 
and, upon the announcement of committees, our paths 
seemed separated entirely; for he was made chairman of 
the committee on agriculture, while to me fell the chair- 
manship of the committee on education. 

Yet it was this last difference which drew us together; 
for among the first things referred to my committee was a 
bill to incorporate a public library which he proposed to 
found in Ithaca. 

On reading this bill I was struck, not merely by his 
gift of one hundred thousand dollars to his townsmen, 
but even more by a certain breadth and largeness in his 
way of making it. The most striking sign of this was his 
mode of forming a board of trustees ; for, instead of the 
usual effort to tie up the organization forever in some sect, 
party, or clique, he had named the best men of his town— 
his political opponents as well as his friends; and had 

294 



EZRA CORNELL-1865-1874 295 

added to them the pastors of all the principal churches, 
Catholic and Protestant. This breadth of mind, even 
more than his munificence, drew me to him. We met sev- 
eral times, discussed his bill, and finally I reported it 
substantially as introduced, and supported it until it be- 
came a law. 

Our next relations were not, at first, so pleasant. The 
great Land Grant of 1862, from the General Government 
to the State, for industrial and technical education, had 
been turned over, at a previous session of the legisla- 
ture, to an institution called the People's College, in 
Schuyler County; but the Agricultural College, twenty 
miles distant from it, was seeking to take away from it 
a portion of this endowment; and among the trustees of 
this Agricultural College was Mr. Cornell, who now 
introduced a bill to divide the fund between the two 
institutions. 

On this I at once took ground against him, declaring 
that the fund ought to be kept together at some one insti- 
tution; that on no account should it be divided; that the 
policy for higher education in the State of New York 
should be concentration; that we had already suffered 
sufficiently from scattering our resources ; that there were 
already over twenty colleges in the State, and not one of 
them doing anything which could justly be called univer- 
sity work. 

Mr. Cornell's first effort was to have his bill referred, 
not to my committee, but to his ; here I resisted him, and, 
as a solution of the difficulty, it was finally referred to a 
joint committee made up of both. On this double-headed 
committee I deliberately thwarted his purpose throughout 
the entire session, delaying action and preventing any 
report upon his bill. 

Most men would have been vexed by this ; but he took 
my course calmly, and even kindly. He never expostu- 
lated, and always listened attentively to my arguments 
against his view; meanwhile I omitted no opportunity to 
make these arguments as strong as possible, and especially 



296 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT- II 

to impress upon him the importance of keeping the fund 
together. 

After the close of the session, during the following 
summer, as it had become evident that the trustees of the 
People's College had no intention of raising the additional 
endowment and providing the equipment required by the 
act which gave them the land grant, there was great dan- 
ger that the whole fund might be lost to the State by the 
lapsing of the time allowed in the congressional act for 
its acceptance. Just at this period Mr. Cornell invited me 
to attend a meeting of the State Agricultural Society, of 
which he was the president, at Rochester; and, when the 
meeting had assembled, he quietly proposed to remove the 
difficulty I had raised, by drawing a new bill giving the 
State Agricultural College half of the fund, and by insert- 
ing a clause requiring the college to provide an additional 
sum of three hundred thousand dollars. This sum he 
pledged himself to give, and, as the comptroller of the 
State had estimated the value of the land grant at six 
hundred thousand dollars, Mr. Cornell supposed that this 
would obviate my objection, since the fund of the Agricul- 
tural College would thus be made equal to the whole origi- 
nal land-grant fund as estimated, which would be equiva- 
lent to keeping the whole fund together. 

The entire audience applauded, as well they might: it 
was a noble proposal. But, much to the disgust of the 
meeting, I persisted in my refusal to sanction any bill 
dividing the fund, declared myself now more opposed to 
such a division than ever ; but promised that if Mr. Cornell 
and his friends would ask for the whole grant— keeping 
it together, and adding his three hundred thousand dol- 
lars, as proposed— I would support such a bill with all my 
might. 

I was led to make this proposal by a course of circum- 
stances which might, perhaps, be called "providential." 
For some years I had been dreaming of a university ; had 
looked into the questions involved, at home and abroad ; 
had approached sundry wealthy and influential men on the 



EZRA CORNELL-1865-1874 297 

subject; but had obtained no encouragement, until this 
strange and unexpected combination of circumstances— a 
great land grant, the use of which was to be determined 
largely by the committee of which I was chairman, and 
this noble pledge by Mr. Cornell. 

Yet for some months nothing seemed to come of our 
conference. At the assembling of the legislature in the 
following year, it was more evident than ever that the 
trustees of the People's College intended to do nothing. 
During the previous session they had promised through 
their agents to supply the endowment required by their 
charter ; but, though this charter obliged them, as a condi- 
tion of taking the grant, to have an estate of two hundred 
acres, buildings for the accommodation of two hundred 
students, and a faculty of not less than six professors, with 
a sufficient library and other apparatus, yet our commit- 
tee, on again taking up the subject, found hardly the faint- 
est pretense of complying with these conditions. More- 
over, their charter required that their property should be 
free from all encumbrance ; and yet the so-called donor of 
it, Mr. Charles Cook, could not be induced to cancel a 
small mortgage which he held upon it. Still worse, before 
the legislature had been in session many days, it was found 
that his agent had introduced a bill to relieve the People 's 
College of all conditions, and to give it, without any pledge 
whatever, the whole land grant, amounting to very nearly 
a million of acres. 

But even worse than this was another difficulty. In ad- 
dition to the strong lobby sent by Mr. Cook to Albany in 
behalf of the People 's College, there came representatives 
of nearly all the smaller denominational colleges in the 
State, men eminent and influential, clamoring for a divi- 
sion of the fund among their various institutions, though 
the fragment which would have fallen to each would not 
have sufficed to endow even a single professorship. 

While all this was uncertain, and the fund seemed 
likely to be utterly frittered away, I was one day going 
down from the State Capitol, when Mr. Cornell joined me 



298 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -II 

and began conversation. He was, as usual, austere and 
reserved in appearance; but I had already found that 
below this appearance there was a warm heart and noble 
purpose. No observant associate could fail to notice that 
the only measures in the legislature which he cared for 
were those proposing some substantial good to the State 
or nation, and that he despised all political wrangling and 
partizan jugglery. 

On this occasion, after some little general talk, he quietly 
said, "I have about half a million dollars more than my 
family will need: what is the best thing I can do with it 
for the State ? " I answered : ' ' Mr. Cornell, the two things 
most worthy of aid in any country are charity and educa- 
tion; but, in our country, the charities appeal to every- 
body. Any one can understand the importance of them, 
and the worthy poor or unfortunate are sure to be taken 
care of. As to education, the lower grades will always be 
cared for in the public schools by the State ; but the insti- 
tutions of the highest grade, without which the lower can 
never be thoroughly good, can be appreciated by only a 
few. The policy of our State is to leave this part of the 
system to individuals; it seems to me, then, that if you 
have half a million to give, the best thing you can do with 
it is to establish or strengthen some institution for higher 
instruction." I then went on to show him the need of a 
larger institution for such instruction than the State then 
had ; that such a college or university worthy of the State 
would require far more in the way of faculty and equip- 
ment than most men supposed; that the time had come 
when scientific and technical education must be provided 
for in such an institution; and that education in history 
and literature should be the bloom of the whole growth. 

He listened attentively, but said little. The matter 
seemed to end there ; but not long afterward he came to me 
and said: "I agree with you that the land-grant fund 
ought to be kept together, and that there should be a new 
institution fitted to the present needs of the State and the 
country. I am ready to pledge to such an institution a site 



EZRA CORNELL-18G5-1874 299 

and five hundred thousand dollars as an addition to the 
land-grant endowment, instead of three hundred thousand, 
as I proposed at Rochester." 

As may well be imagined, I hailed this proposal joy- 
fully, and soon sketched out a bill embodying his purpose 
so far as education was concerned. But here I wish to say 
that, while Mr. Cornell urged Ithaca as the site of the pro- 
posed institution, he never showed any wish to give his 
own name to it. The suggestion to that effect was mine. 
He at first doubted the policy of it; but, on my insisting 
that it was in accordance with time-honored American 
usage, as shown by the names of Harvard, Yale, Dart- 
mouth, Amherst, Bowdoin, Brown, Williams, and the like, 
he yielded. 

We now held frequent conferences as to the leading 
features of the institution to be created. In these I was 
more and more impressed by his sagacity and largeness 
of view ; and, when the sketch of the bill was fully devel- 
oped,— its financial features by him, and its educational 
features by me,— it was put into shape by Charles J. Fol- 
ger of Geneva, then chairman of the judiciary committee of 
the Senate, afterward chief judge of the Court of Appeals, 
and finally Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. 
The provision forbidding any sectarian or partizan pre- 
dominance in the board of trustees or faculty was proposed 
by me, heartily acquiesced in by Mr. Cornell, and put into 
shape by Judge Folger. The State-scholarship feature 
and the system of alumni representation on the board of 
trustees were also accepted by Mr. Cornell at my sug- 
gestion. 

I refer to these things especially because they show one 
striking characteristic of the man — namely, his readiness 
to be advised largely by others in matters which he felt 
to be outside his own province, and his willingness to give 
the largest measure of confidence when he gave any con- 
fidence at all. 

On the other hand, the whole provision for the endow- 
ment, the part relating to the land grant, and, above all, 



300 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-II 

the supplementary legislation allowing him to make a 
contract with the State for "locating" the lands, were 
thought out entirely by himself ; and in all these matters he 
showed, not only a public spirit far beyond that displayed 
by any other benefactor of education in his time, but a 
foresight which seemed to me then, and seems to me now, 
almost miraculous. He alone, of all men in the United 
States, was able to foresee what might be done by an 
individual to develop the land-grant fund, and he alone 
was willing to make the great personal sacrifice thereby 
required. 

But, while he thus left the general educational features 
to me, he uttered, during one of our conversations, words 
which showed that he had arrived at the true conception 
of a university. He expressed the hope that in the pro- 
posed institution every student might find instruction in 
whatever study interested him. Hence came the legend 
now surrounding his medallion portrait upon the univer- 
sity seal : ' ' I would found an institution where any person 
can find instruction in any study." 

The introduction of this new bill into the legislature 
was a signal for war. Nearly all the denominational col- 
leges girded themselves for the fray, and sent their agents 
to fight us at Albany; they also stirred up the secular 
press, without distinction of party, in the regions where 
they were situated, and the religious organs of their va- 
rious sects in the great cities. 

At the center of the movement against us was the Peo- 
ple 's College ; it had rallied in force and won over the 
chairman of the educational committee in the Assembly, 
so that under various pretexts he delayed considering the 
bill. Worst of all, there appeared against us, late in the 
session, a professor from the Genesee College— a man of 
high character and great ability ; and he did his work most 
vigorously. He brought the whole force of his sect to 
bear upon the legislature, and insisted that every other 
college in the State had received something from the pub- 
lic funds, while his had received none. 



EZRA CORNELL-1865-1874 301 

As a first result came a proposal from some of his asso- 
ciates that twenty-five thousand dollars of the land-grant 
fund be paid to Genesee College; but this the friends of 
the Cornell bill resisted, on the ground that, if the fund 
were broken into in one case, it would be in others. 

It was next proposed that Mr. Cornell should agree to 
give twenty-five thousand dollars to Genesee College on 
the passage of the bill. This Mr. Cornell utterly refused, 
saying that not for the passage of any bill would he make 
any private offer or have any private understanding ; that 
every condition must be put into the bill, where all men 
could see it ; and that he would then accept or reject it as 
he might think best. The result was that our opponents 
forced into the bill a clause requiring him to give twenty- 
five thousand dollars to Genesee College, before he could 
be allowed to give five hundred thousand dollars to the 
proposed university ; and the friends of the bill, not feel- 
ing strong enough to resist this clause, and not being 
willing to see the enterprise wrecked for die want of it, 
allowed it to go unopposed. The whole matter was vexa- 
tious to the last degree. A man of less firmness and 
earnestness, thus treated, would have thrown up his mu- 
nificent purpose in disgust; but Mr. Cornell quietly per- 
severed. 

Yet the troubles of the proposed university had only 
begun. Mr. Charles Cook, who, during his senatorship, 
had secured the United States land grant of 1862 for the 
People's College, was a man of great force, a born leader 
of men, anxious to build up his part of the State, and 
especially the town from which he came, though he had no 
special desire to put any considerable part of his own 
wealth into a public institution. He had seen the opportu- 
nities afforded by the land grant, had captured it, and was 
now determined to fight for it. The struggle became 
bitter. His emissaries, including the members of the Sen- 
ate and Assembly from his part of the State, made com- 
mon cause with the sectarian colleges, and with various 
corporations and persons who, having bills of their own 



302 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-II 

in the legislature, were ready to exchange services and 

votes. 

The coalition of all these forces against the Cornell 
University bill soon became very formidable, and the com- 
mittee on education in the Assembly, to which the bill had 
been referred, seemed more and more controlled by them. 
Our only hope now was to enlighten the great body of the 
senators and assemblymen. To this end Mr. Cornell in- 
vited them by squads, sometimes to his rooms at Congress 
Hall, sometimes to mine at the Delavan House. There he 
laid before them his general proposal and the financial 
side of the plan, while I dwelt upon the need of a univer- 
sity in the true sense of the word; upon the opportunity 
now offered by this great fund; upon the necessity of 
keeping it together ; upon the need of large means to carry 
out any scheme of technical and general education such 
as was contemplated by the congressional act of 1862; 
showed the proofs that the People's College would and 
could do nothing to meet this want; that division of the 
fund among the existing colleges was simply the annihila- 
tion of it; and, in general, did my best to enlighten the 
reason and arouse the patriotism of the members on the 
subject of a worthy university in our State. These points 
and others were finally embodied in my speech before the 
Senate, and this having been published in the "Albany 
Journal," Mr. Cornell provided for its circulation broad- 
cast over the State and thus aroused public opinion. 

In this way we won to our support several strong 
friends in both Houses, among them some men of great 
natural force of character who had never enjoyed the 
privilege of much early education, but who were none the 
less anxious that those who came after them should have 
the best opportunities. Of these I may name especially 
Senators Cook of Saratoga and Ames of Oswego. Men 
of high education and culture also aided us, especially 
Mr. Andrews, Mr. Havens, and, finally, Judge Folger in 
the Senate, with Mr. Lord and Mr. Weaver in the As- 
sembly. 



EZRA CORNELL-1865-1874 303 

While we were thus laboring with the legislature as a 
whole, serious work had to be done with the Assembly 
committee; and Mr. Cornell employed a very eminent 
lawyer to present his case, while Mr. Cook employed one 
no less noted to take the opposite side. The session of 
the committee was held in the Assembly chamber, and there 
was a large attendance of spectators; but, unfortunately, 
the lawyer employed by Mr. Cornell having taken little 
pains with the case, his speech was cold, labored, perfunc- 
tory, and fell flat. The speech on the other side was much 
more effective; it was thin and demagogical, but the 
speaker knew well the best tricks for catching the average 
man. He indulged in eloquent tirades against the Cornell 
bill as a "monopoly," a "wild project," a "selfish 
scheme," a "job," a "grab," and the like; denounced Mr. 
Cornell as "seeking to erect a monument to himself"; 
hinted that he was "planning to rob the State"; and, be- 
fore he had finished, had pictured Mr. Cornell as a 
swindler and the rest of us as dupes or knaves. 

I can never forget the quiet dignity with which Mr. 
Cornell took this abuse. Mrs. Cornell sat at his right, I 
at his left. In one of the worst tirades against him, he 
turned to me and said quietly, and without the slightest 
anger or excitement: "If I could think of any other way 
in which half a million of dollars would do as much good 
to the State, I would give the legislature no more trouble. ' ' 
Shortly afterward, when the invective was again espe- 
cially bitter, he turned to me and said: "I am not sure 
but that it would be a good thing for me to give the half 
a million to old Harvard College in Massachusetts, to 
educate the descendants of the men who hanged my fore- 
fathers. ' ' 

There was more than his usual quaint humor in this 
—there was that deep reverence which he always bore 
toward his Quaker ancestry, and which seemed to have be- 
come part of him. I admired Mr. Cornell on many occa- 
sions, but never more than during that hour when he 
sat, without the slightest anger, mildly taking the abuse of 



304 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-II 

that prostituted pettifogger, the indifference of the com- 
mittee, and the laughter of the audience. It was a scene 
for a painter, and I trust that some day it will be fitly 
perpetuated for the university. 

This struggle being ended, the Assembly committee 
could not be induced to report the bill. It was easy, after 
such a speech, for its members to pose as protectors of 
the State against a swindler and a monopoly; the chair- 
man, who, shortly after the close of the session, was mys- 
teriously given a position in the New York custom-house, 
made pretext after pretext without reporting, until it be- 
came evident that we must have a struggle in the Assembly 
and drag the bill out of the committee in spite of him. 
To do this required a two-thirds vote. All our friends 
were set to work, and some pains taken to scare the cor- 
porations which had allied themselves with the enemy, in 
regard to the fate of their own bills, by making them 
understand that, unless they stopped their interested op- 
position to the university bill in the House, a feeling 
would be created in the Senate very unfortunate for them. 
In this way their clutch upon sundry members of the 
Assembly was somewhat relaxed, and these were allowed 
to vote according to their consciences. 

The Cornell bill was advocated most earnestly in the 
House by Mr. Henry B. Lord: in his unpretentious way 
he marshaled the university forces, and moved that the bill 
be taken from the committee and referred to the Commit- 
tee of the Whole. Now came a struggle. Most of the 
best men in the Assembly stood by us; but the waverers 
—men who feared local pressure, sectarian hostility, or 
the opposition of Mr. Cook to measures of their own- 
attempted, if not to oppose the Cornell bill, at least to 
evade a vote upon it. In order to give them a little tone 
and strength, Mr. Cornell went with me to various lead- 
ing editors in the city of New York, and we explained 
the whole matter to them, securing editorial articles fa- 
vorable to the university, the most prominent among these 
gentlemen being Horace Greeley of the ' ' Tribune, ' ' Eras- 



EZRA CORNELL-1865-1874 305 

tus Brooks of the "Express," and Manton Marble of the 
"World." This did much for us, yet when the vote was 
taken the old cowardice was again shown ; but several of 
us stood in the cloak-room and fairly shamed the waverers 
back into their places. As a result, to the surprise and 
disgust of the chairman of the Assembly committee, the 
bill was taken out of his control, and referred to the Com- 
mittee of the Whole House. 

Another long struggle now ensued, but the bill was 
finally passed in the Assembly and came back to the 
Senate. There the struggle was renewed, all kinds of de- 
laying tactics were resorted to, but the bill was finally 
carried, and received the signature of Governor Fenton. 

Now came a new danger. During their struggle against 
the bill, our enemies had been strong enough to force into 
it a clause enabling the People 's College to retain the land 
fund, provided that institution should be shown, within six 
months of the passage of the bill, to be in possession of a 
sum such as the Board of Regents should declare would 
enable it to comply with the conditions on which it had 
originally received the grant. The Board of Regents 
now reported that the possession of one hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars would be sufficient for such a com- 
pliance, and would insure the fund to the People's Col- 
lege. Naturally we watched, in much uneasy suspense, 
during those six months, to see whether Mr. Cook and 
the People's College authorities would raise this sum 
of money, so small in comparison with that which Mr. 
Cornell was willing to give, in order to secure the grant. 
But our fears were baseless; and on the fifth day of 
September, 1865, the trustees of Cornell University were 
assembled for the first time at Ithaca. 

Then came to them a revelation of a quality in Mr. Cor- 
nell unknown to most of them before. In one of the peti- 
tions forwarded from Ithaca to the legislature by his 
fellow-citizens it had been stated that "he never did less 
than he promised, but generally more." So it was found 
in this case. He turned over to the trustees, not only the 

I.— 20 



306 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-II 

securities for the five hundred thousand dollars required 
by the charter, but also gave two hundred acres of land as 
a site. Thus came into being Cornell University. 

Yet the services of Mr. Cornell had only begun: he at 
once submitted to us a plan for doing what no other citizen 
had done for any other State. In the other common- 
wealths which had received the land grant, the authorities 
had taken the scrip representing the land, sold it at the 
market price, and, as the market was thus glutted, had 
realized but a small sum ; but Mr. Cornell, with that fore- 
sight which was his most striking characteristic, saw 
clearly what could be done by using the scrip to take up 
land for the institution. To do this he sought aid in vari- 
ous ways; but no one dared join him, and at last he deter- 
mined to bear the whole burden himself. Scrip repre- 
senting over seven hundred thousand acres still remained 
in the hands of the comptroller. The trustees received Mr. 
Cornell's plan for dealing with the scrip somewhat doubt- 
fully, but the enabling act was passed, by which he was 
permitted to "locate" this land for the benefit of the uni- 
versity. So earnest was he in this matter that he was 
anxious to take up the entire amount, but here his near 
friends interposed : we saw too well what a crushing load 
the taxes and other expenses on such a vast tract of land 
would become before it could be sold to advantage. Finally 
he yielded somewhat : it was agreed that he should take up 
five hundred thousand acres, and he now gave himself day 
and night to this great part of the enterprise, which was 
to provide a proper financial basis for a university such as 
we hoped to found. 

Meanwhile, at Mr. Cornell's suggestion, I devoted my- 
self to a more careful plan of the new institution ; and, at 
the next meeting of the board, presented a "plan of or- 
ganization," which sketched out the purpose and consti- 
tution of such a university as seemed needed in a great 
commonwealth like ours. Mr. Cornell studied it carefully, 
gave it his approval, and a copy of it with marginal notes 
in his own hand is still preserved. 



EZRA CORNELL- 1865-1874 307 

I had supposed that this was to end my relations with 
Mr. Cornell, so far as the university was concerned. A 
multitude of matters seemed to forbid my taking any fur- 
ther care for it, and a call to another position very attrac- 
tive to me drew me away from all thought of connection 
with it, save, perhaps, such as was involved in meeting the 
trustees once or twice a year. 

Mr. Cornell had asked me, from time to time, whether 
I could suggest any person for the presidency of the uni- 
versity. I mentioned various persons, and presented the 
arguments in their favor. One day he said to me quietly 
that he also had a candidate ; I asked him who it was, and 
he said that he preferred to keep the matter to himself 
until the next meeting of the trustees. Nothing more passed 
between us on that subject. I had no inkling of his pur- 
pose, but thought it most likely that his candidate was 
a Western gentleman whose claims had been strongly 
pressed upon him. When the trustees came together, and 
the subject was brought up, I presented the merits of vari- 
ous gentlemen, especially of one already at the head of an 
important college in the State, who, I thought, would give 
us success. Upon this, Mr. Cornell rose, and, in a very sim- 
ple but earnest speech, presented my name. It was entirely 
unexpected by me, and I endeavored to show the trustees 
that it was impossible for me to take the place in view of 
other duties ; that it needed a man of more robust health, 
of greater age, and of wider reputation in the State. But 
Mr. Cornell quietly persisted, our colleagues declared 
themselves unanimously of his opinion, and, with many 
misgivings, I gave a provisional acceptance. 

The relation thus begun ended only with Mr. Cornell's 
life, and from first to last it grew more and more interest- 
ing to me. We were thrown much together at Albany, at 
Ithaca, and on various journeys undertaken for the uni- 
versity ; and, the more I saw of him, the deeper became my 
respect for him. There were, indeed, toward the end of 
his life, some things trying to one of my temperament, 
and among these things I may mention his exceeding reti- 



308 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -II 

cence, and his willingness not only to labor but to wait; 
but these stood not at all in the way of my respect and 
affection for him. 

His liberality was unstinted. While using his fortune 
in taking up the lands, he was constantly doing generous 
things for the university and those connected with it. One 
of the first of these was his gift of the library in classical 
literature collected by Dr. Charles Anthon of Columbia 
College. Nothing could apparently be more outside his 
sympathy than the department needing these seven thou- 
sand volumes ; but he recognized its importance in the gen- 
eral plan of the new institution, bought the library for 
over twelve thousand dollars, and gave it to the university. 

Then came the Jewett collection in geology, which he 
gave at a cost of ten thousand dollars ; the Ward collection 
of casts, at a cost of three thousand ; the Newcomb collec- 
tion in conchology, at a cost of sixteen thousand ; an addi- 
tion to the university grounds, valued at many thousands 
more ; and it was only the claims of a multitude of minor 
university matters upon his purse which prevented his 
carrying out a favorite plan of giving a great telescope, at 
a cost of fifty thousand dollars. At a later period, to ex- 
tinguish the university debt, to increase the equipment, and 
eventually to provide free scholarships and fellowships, 
he made an additional gift of about eighty thousand 
dollars. 

While doing these things, he was constantly advancing 
large sums in locating the university lands, and in paying 
university salaries, for which our funds were not yet avail- 
able ; while from time to time he made many gifts which, 
though smaller, were no less striking evidences of the 
largeness of his view. I may mention a few among these 
as typical. 

Having found, in the catalogue of a London book- 
seller, a set of Piranesi's great work on the "Antiquities 
of Rome,"— a superb copy, the gift of a pope to a royal 
duke,— I showed it to him, when he at once ordered it for 
our library at a cost of about a thousand dollars. At 



EZRA CORNELL- 18G5-1874 3C9 

another time, seeing the need of some costly works to 
illustrate agriculture, he gave them to us at a somewhat 
greater cost; and, having heard Professor Tyndall's lec- 
tures in New York, he bought additional physical appara- 
tus to enable our resident professor to repeat the lectures 
at Ithaca, and this cost him fifteen hundred dollars. 

Characteristic of him, too, was another piece of quiet 
munificence. When the clause forced into the university 
charter, requiring him to give twenty-five thousand dol- 
lars to another institution before he could be allowed to 
give half a million to his own, was noised abroad through 
the State, there was a general feeling of disgust; and at 
the next session of the legislature a bill was brought in 
to refund the twenty-five thousand dollars to him. Upon 
this, he remarked that what he once gave he never took 
back, but that if the university trustees would accept it he 
had no objection. The bill was modified to this effect, and 
thus the wrong was righted. 

During my stay in Europe, through the summer of 1868, 
under instructions to study various institutions for techni- 
cal education, to make large purchases of books, and to 
secure one or two men greatly needed in special depart- 
ments not then much cultivated in this country, his gen- 
erosity was unfailing. Large as were the purchases which 
I was authorized to make, the number of desirable things 
outside this limit steadily grew larger; but my letters to 
him invariably brought back the commission to secure 
this additional material. 

During this occupation of mine in Europe, he was quite 
as busy in the woods of the upper Mississippi and on the 
plains of Kansas, selecting university lands. No fatigue 
or expenditure deterred him. 

At various periods I passed much time with Mr. Cornell 
on his home farm. He lived generously, in a kind of patri- 
archal simplicity, and many of his conversations interested 
me intensely. His reticence gradually yielded, and he gave 
me much information regarding his earlier years : they had 
been full of toil and struggle, but through the whole there 



310 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-II 

was clear evidence of a noble purpose. Whatever worthy 
work his hand had found to do, he had done it with his 
might: the steamers of Cayuga Lake; the tunnel which 
carries the waters of Fall Creek to the mills below; the 
mills themselves ; the dams against that turbulent stream, 
which he built after others had failed, and which stand 
firmly to this day; the calendar clocks for which Ithaca 
has become famous, and of which he furnished the original 
hint— all these he touched upon, though so modestly that 
I never found out his full agency in them until a later 
period, when I had made the acquaintance of many of his 
townsmen. 

Especially interesting were his references to the begin- 
nings of American telegraphic enterprise, with which he 
had so much to do. 

His connection with it began in a curious way. Travel- 
ing in northern New England to dispose of a plow which 
he had invented, he entered the office of a gentleman who 
had taken the contract for laying the first telegraphic wires 
underground between Washington and Baltimore, and 
found him in much doubt and trouble : the difficulty was to 
lay the leaden pipe containing the two insulated wires at a 
cost within the terms of the contract. Hearing this, Mr. 
Cornell said: "I will build you a machine which will dig 
the trench, lay the pipe and wires, and cover them with 
earth rapidly and cheaply." 

This proposal was at first derided; but, as Mr. Cornell 
insisted upon it, he was at last allowed to show what he 
could do. The machine having been constructed, he ex- 
hibited it to a committee; but when the long line of 
horses attached to it were started, it was so thrown about 
by the inequalities of the surface that the committee de- 
clared it a failure. Presently Mr. Cornell took them to 
the ground over which the machine had just passed, and, 
showing them a line of newly turned earth, asked them 
to dig in it. Having done this, they found the pipe incas- 
ing the wires, acknowledged his triumph, and immediately 
gave him and his machine permanent employment. 



EZRA CORNELL-1865-1874 311 

But before long he became convinced that this was not 
the best way. Having studied all the books on electricity 
that he could find in the Congressional Library, he had 
satisfied himself that it would be far better and cheaper 
to string the wires through the open air between poles. 
This idea the men controlling the scheme for a time re- 
sisted. Some of them regarded such interference in a 
scientific matter by one whom they considered a plain 
working-man as altogether too presuming. But one day 
Professor Morse came out to decide the matter. Finding 
Mr. Cornell at his machine, the professor explained the 
difficulties in the case, especially the danger of shaking the 
confidence of Congress, and so losing the necessary ap- 
propriation, should any change in plan be adopted, and 
then asked him if he could see any way out of the difficulty. 
Mr. Cornell answered that he could, whereupon Professor 
Morse expressed a wish that it might be taken. At this 
Mr. Cornell gave the word to his men, started up the 
long line of horses dragging the ponderous machine, 
guided it with his own hands into a boulder lying near, 
and thus deranged the whole machinery. 

As a natural result it was announced by various jour- 
nals at the national capital that the machinery for laying 
the wires had been broken by the carelessness of an em- 
ployee, but that it would doubtless soon be repaired and 
the work resumed. Thanks to this stratagem, the neces- 
sary time was gained without shaking the confidence of 
Congress, and Mr. Cornell at once began stringing the 
wires upon poles: the insulation was found far better 
than in the underground system, and there was no more 
trouble. 

The confidence of the promoters of the enterprise being 
thus gained, Mr. Cornell was employed to do their work 
in all parts of the country ; and his sturdy honesty, energy, 
and persistence justified their confidence and laid the foun- 
dations of his fortune. 

Very striking were the accounts of his troubles and 
trials during the prosecution of this telegraphic work— 



312 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT- II 

troubles from men of pretended science, from selfish men, 
from stupid men— all chronicled by him without the slight- 
est bitterness against any human being, yet with a quaint 
humor which made the story very enjoyable. 

Through his personal history, as I then began to learn 
it, ran a thread, or rather a strong cord, of stoicism. 
He had clung with such desperate tenacity to his faith in 
the future of the telegraphic system, that, sooner than part 
with his interest in it, even when its stock was utterly dis- 
credited, he suffered from poverty, and almost from want. 
While pressing on his telegraphic construction, he had been 
terribly wounded in a Western railroad accident, but had 
extricated himself from the dead and dying, and, as I 
learned from others, had borne his sufferings without a 
murmur. At another time, overtaken by ship-fever at 
Montreal, and thought to be beyond help, he had quietly 
made up his mind that, if he could reach a certain hydro- 
pathic establishment in New York, he would recover ; and 
had dragged himself through that long journey, des- 
perately ill as he was, in railway cars, steamers, and 
stages, until he reached his desired haven; and there he 
finally recovered, though nearly every other person at- 
tacked by the disease at his Montreal hotel had died. 

Pursuing his telegraphic enterprise, he had been obliged 
at times to fight many strong men and great combinations 
of capital; but this same stoicism carried him through: 
he used to say laughingly that his way was to "tire them 

out." 

When, at last, fortune had begun to smile upon him, his 
public spirit began to show itself in more striking forms, 
though not in forms more real, than in his earlier days. 
Evidences of this met the eye of his visitors at once, and 
among these were the fine cattle, sheep, fruit-trees, and 
the like, which he had brought back from the London 
Exposition of 1851. His observations of the agricultural 
experiments of Lawes and Gilbert at Rothamstead in 
England, and his visits to various agricultural exhibitions, 
led him to attempt similar work at home. Everything 



EZRA CORNELL- 1865-1874 313 

that could improve the community in which he lived 
was matter of concern to him. lie took the lead in es- 
tablishing "Cascadilla Place," in order to give a very- 
gifted woman an opportunity to show her abilities in 
administering hydropathic treatment to disease; his 
public library, when I first visited Ithaca, was just 
completed. 

He never showed the slightest approach to display or 
vanity regarding any of these things, and most of them I 
heard of first, at a later period, from others. 

Although his religious ideas were very far from those 
generally considered orthodox, he had a deep sympathy 
with every good effort for religion and morality, no mat- 
ter by whom made ; and he contributed freely to churches 
of every name and to good purposes of every sort. He 
had quaint ways at times in making such gifts, and from 
the many stories showing these I select one as character- 
istic. During the Civil War, the young women of the vil- 
lage held large sewing-circles, doing work for the soldiers. 
When Mr. Cornell was asked to contribute to their funds, 
he declined, to the great surprise of those who asked 
him, and said dryly : " Of course these women don 't really 
come together to sew for the soldiers ; they come together 
to gossip." This was said, no doubt, with that peculiar 
twinkle of the eye which his old friends can well remem- 
ber ; but, on the young ladies protesting that he did them 
injustice, he answered : "If you can prove that I am wrong, 
I will gladly contribute ; if you will only sew together all 
one afternoon, and no one of you speak a word, I will give 
you a hundred dollars." The society met, and complete 
silence reigned. The young men of the community, hear- 
ing of this, and seeing an admirable chance to tease their 
fair friends, came in large numbers to the sewing-circle, 
and tried to engage them in conversation. At first their 
attempts were in vain ; but, finally, to a question skilfully 
put, one of the young ladies made a reply. This broke 
the spell. Of course, the whole assembly were very un- 
happy; but, when all was told to Mr. Cornell, he said: 



314 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-II 

"They shall have their hundred dollars, for they have 
done better than any other women ever did." 

But I ought to say here that this little episode would 
be grossly misunderstood were it supposed to indicate any 
tendency in his heart or mind toward a cynical view of 
womankind. Nothing could be more manly and noble 
than his reference to her who had stood at his side 
courageously, hopefully, and cheerily during his years 
of struggle and want of appreciation. Well might he 
speak of her, as he did once in my hearing, as "the best 
woman that ever lived." And his gentle courtliness and 
thoughtful kindness were also deeply appreciated in other 
households. His earnestness, too, in behalf of the higher 
education of women, and of their fair treatment in various 
professions and occupations, showed something far deeper 
than conventional politeness. 

From the time when I began to know him best, his main 
thought was concentrated upon the university. His own 
business interests were freely sacrificed; his time, wealth, 
and effort were all yielded to his work in taking up its 
lands, to say nothing of supplementary work which be- 
came in many ways a heavy burden to him. 

During the summer preceding the opening of the uni- 
versity, this labor and care began to wear upon him, and 
he was attacked by an old malady which gave him great 
pain ; yet his stoicism asserted itself. Through night after 
night, as I lay in the room next his at his farm-house, I 
could hear him groan, and to my natural sympathy was 
added a fear lest he might not live through this most criti- 
cal period in the history of the new institution ; but, invari- 
ably, when I met him next morning and asked how he 
felt, his answer was, "All right," or "Very well." I 
cannot remember ever hearing him make any complaint 
of his sufferings or even any reference to them. 

Nor did pain diminish his steady serenity or generosity. 
I remember that on one hot afternoon of that summer, 
when he had come into the house thoroughly weary, a 
young man called upon him to ask for aid in securing 



EZRA CORNELL -18G5-1874 315 

school-books. Mr. Cornell questioned him closely, and 
then rose, walked with him down the hill into the town, 
and bought the books which were needed. 

As the day approached for the formal opening of the 
university, he was obliged to remain in bed. Care and 
toil had prostrated me also ; and both of us, a sorry couple 
indeed, had to be taken from our beds to be carried to the 
opening exercises. 

A great crowd had assembled from all parts of the 
State:— many enthusiastic, more doubtful, and some de- 
cidedly inclined to scoff. 

Some who were expected were not present. The Gov- 
ernor of the State, though he had been in Ithaca the day 
before, quietly left town on the eve of the opening exer- 
cises. His Excellency was a very wise man in his genera- 
tion, and evidently felt that it was not best for him to 
have too much to do with an institution which the sectarian 
press had so generally condemned. I shall not soon forget 
the way in which Mr. Cornell broke the news to me, and 
the accent of calm contempt in his voice. Fortunately 
there remained with us the lieutenant-governor, General 
Stewart Lyndon Woodford. He came to the front nobly, 
and stood by us firmly and munificently ever afterward. 

Mr. Cornell's speech on that occasion was very simple 
and noble ; his whole position, to one who knew what he 
had gone through in the way of obloquy, hard work, and 
self-sacrifice, was touching. Worn down by illness, he 
was unable to stand, and he therefore read his address in 
a low tone from his chair. It was very impressive, almost 
incapacitating me from speaking after him, and I saw 
tears in the eyes of many in the audience. Nothing could 
be more simple than this speech of his ; it was mainly de- 
voted to a plain assertion of the true university theory in 
its most elementary form, and to a plea that women should 
have equal privileges with men in advanced education. In 
the midst of it came a touch of his quaint shrewdness ; for, 
in replying to a recent charge that everything at the uni- 
versity was unfinished, he remarked in substance, "We 



316 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -II 

have not invited you to see a university finished, but to see 
one begun." 

The opening day seemed a success, but this very suc- 
cess stirred up the enemy. A bitter letter from Ithaca 
to a leading denominational organ in New York gave the 
signal, and soon the whole sectarian press was in full cry, 
steadily pressing upon Mr. Cornell and those who stood 
near him. Very many of the secular presses also thought 
it wise to join in the attack, and it was quickly extended 
from his ideas to his honor, and even to his honesty. It 
seemed beyond the conception of many of these gentlemen 
that a Hicksite Quaker, who, if he gave any thought at 
all to this or that creed, or this or that "plan of salva- 
tion," passed it all by as utterly irrelevant and inadequate, 
could be a religious man ; and a far greater number seemed 
to find it just as difficult to believe that a man could sacri- 
fice his comfort and risk his fortune in managing so great 
a landed property for the public interest without any 
concealed scheme of plunder. 

But he bore all this with his usual stoicism. It seemed 
to increase his devotion to the institution, rather than to di- 
minish it. When the receipts from the endowment fell 
short or were delayed, he continued to advance money 
freely to meet the salaries of the professors; and for ap- 
paratus, books, and equipment of every sort his purse 
was constantly opened. 

Yet, in those days of toil and care and obloquy, there 
were some things which encouraged him much. At that 
period all patriotic Americans felt deep gratitude to Gold- 
win Smith for his courage and eloquence in standing by 
our country during the CivilWar,and great admiration for 
his profound and brilliant historical lectures at Oxford. 
Naturally, on arriving in London, I sought to engage him 
for the new university, and was authorized by Mr. Cornell 
to make him large pecuniary offers. Professor Smith en- 
tered at once into our plans heartily ; wrote to encourage 
us ; came to us ; lived with us amid what, to him, must have 
been great privations; lectured for us year after year as 



EZRA CORNELL-18G5-1874 317 

brilliantly as he had ever lectured at Oxford; gave his 
library to the university, with a large sum for its increase ; 
lent his aid very quietly, but none the less effectually, to 
needy and meritorious students; and steadily refused 
then, as he has ever since done, and now does, to accept 
•a dollar of compensation. Nothing ever gave Mr. Cornell 
more encouragement than this. For "Goldwin," as he 
called him in his Quaker way, there was always a very 
warm corner in his heart. 

He also found especial pleasure in many of the lecture- 
courses established at the opening of the university. For 
Professor Agassiz he formed a warm friendship; and 
their discussions regarding geological questions were very 
interesting, eliciting from Agassiz a striking tribute to 
Mr. Cornell's closeness of observation and sagacity in 
reasoning. The lectures on history by Goldwin Smith, 
and on literature by James Russell Lowell, George Wil- 
liam Curtis, and Bayard Taylor, he also enjoyed greatly. 

The scientific collections and apparatus of various sorts 
gave him constant pleasure. I had sent from England, 
France, and Germany a large number of charts, models, 
and pieces of philosophical apparatus, and regarding 
some of them had thought it best to make careful expla- 
nations to him, in order to justify so large an expenditure ; 
but I soon found this unnecessary. His shrewd mind 
enabled him to understand any piece of apparatus quickly, 
and to appreciate it fully. I have never had to deal with 
any man whose instinct in such matters was more true. If 
a book or scientific specimen or piece of apparatus was 
necessary to the proper work of a department, he could 
easily be made to see it; and then it must come to us, no 
matter at what cost. Like the great prince of navigators 
in the fifteenth century, he was a man "who had the 
taste for great things"— "qui tenia gusto en cosas 
grandes.''' He felt that the university was to be great, 
and he took his measures accordingly. His colleagues 
generally thought him over-sanguine; and when he de- 
clared that the university should yet have an endow- 



318 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-II 

merit of three millions, most of them regarded him as a 
dreamer. 

I have never known a man more entirely unselfish. I 
have seen him, when his wealth was counted in millions, 
devote it so generously to university objects that he felt 
it necessary to stint himself in some matters of personal 
comfort. When urged to sell a portion of the university 
land at a sacrifice, in order to better our foundations, he 
answered in substance, "Don't let us do that yet; I will 
wear my old hat and coat a little longer, and let you have 
a little more money from my own pocket. ' ' 

This feeling seemed never diminished, even under the 
worst opposition. He "kept the faith," no matter who 
opposed him. 

An eminent and justly respected president of one of the 
oldest Eastern universities published a treatise, which was 
widely circulated, to prove that the main ideas on which 
the new university was based were utterly impracticable ; 
and especially that the presentation of various courses of 
instruction suited to young men of various aims and 
tastes, with liberty of choice between them, was preposter- 
ous. It is interesting to note that this same eminent gentle- 
man was afterward led to adopt this same ' ' impracticable ' ' 
policy at his own university. Others of almost equal 
eminence insisted that to give advanced scientific and tech- 
nical instruction in the same institution with classical 
instruction was folly ; and these gentlemen were probably 
not converted until the plan was adopted at English Cam- 
bridge. Others still insisted that an institution not belong- 
ing to any one religious sect must be " godless," would 
not be patronized, and could not succeed. Their eyes were 
opened later by the sight of men and women of differ- 
ent Christian denominations pressing forward at Cornell 
University to contribute sums which, in the aggregate, 
amounted to much more than the original endowment. 

He earned the blessing of those who, not having seen, 
have yet believed. Though he did not live long enough 
to see the fundamental principles of the university thus 



EZRA CORNELL— 1865-1874 319 

force their way to recognition and adoption by those who 
had most strongly opposed them, his faith remained un- 
diminished to the end of his life. 

But the opposition to his work developed into worse 
shapes; many leading journals in the State, when not 
openly hostile to him, were cold and indifferent, and some 
of them were steadily abusive. This led to a rather wide- 
spread feeling that "where there is smoke, there must be 
fire"; and we who knew the purity of his purpose, his 
unselfishness, his sturdy honesty, labored long against this 
feeling. 

I regret to say that some eminent men connected with 
important universities in the country showed far too much 
readiness to acquiesce in this unfavorable view of our 
founder. From very few of our sister institutions came 
any word of cheer; and from some of them came most 
bitter attacks, not only upon the system adopted in the 
new university, but upon Mr. Cornell himself. But his 
friends were more afflicted, by far, than he ; all this opposi- 
tion only served to strengthen his faith. As to this effect 
upon him, I recall one or two quaint examples. At the 
darkest period in the history of the university, I men- 
tioned to him that a fine collection of mathematical 
books was offered us for five thousand dollars. Under 
ordinary circumstances he would have bought it for 
us at once; but at that moment, when any addition 
to his burdens would not have been advised by any of 
his friends, he quietly said, "Somewhere there is a man 
walking about who wants to give us that five thousand 
dollars." I am glad to say that his faith was soon justi- 
fied; such a man appeared,— a man who was glad to give 
the required sum as a testimony to his belief in Mr. Cor- 
nell 's integrity : William Kelly of Rhinebeck. 

Another example may be given as typical. Near the 
close of the first celebration of Founder's Day at one of 
the college buildings, a pleasant social dance sprang up 
among the younger people— students from the university 
and young ladies from the village. This brought a very 



320 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-II 

severe protest from sundry clergymen of the place, de- 
claring dancing to be " destructive of vital godliness." 
Though this was solemnly laid before the faculty, no an- 
swer was ever made to it; but we noticed that, at every 
social gathering on Founder's Day afterward, as long as 
Mr. Cornell lived, he had arrangements made for dancing. 
I never knew a man more open to right reason, and never 
one less influenced by cant or dogmatism. 

To most attacks upon him in the newspapers he neither 
made nor suggested any reply ; but one or two which were 
especially misleading he answered simply and conclu- 
sively. This had no effect, of course, in stopping the at- 
tacks ; but it had one effect, at which the friends of the uni- 
versity rejoiced: it bound his old associates to him all the 
more closely, and led them to support him all the more vig- 
orously. When a paper in one of the largest cities in west- 
ern New York had been especially abusive, one of Mr. 
Cornell's old friends living in that city wrote: "I know 
that the charges recently published are utterly untrue ; but 
I am not skilled in newspaper controversy, so I will simply 
add to what I have already given to the university a spe- 
cial gift of thirty thousand dollars, which will testify to 
my townsmen here, and perhaps to the public at large, my 
confidence in Mr. Cornell." 

Such was the way of Hiram Sibley. Upon another at- 
tack, especially violent, from the organ of one of the de- 
nominational colleges, another old friend of Mr. Cornell 
in the eastern part of the State, a prominent member of 
the religious body which this paper represented, sent his 
check for several thousand dollars, to be used for the 
purchase of books for the library, and to show confidence 
in Mr. Cornell by deeds as well as words. 

Vile as these attacks were, worse remained behind. A 
local politician, who had been sent to the legislature from 
the district where the " People's College" had lived its 
short life, prepared, with pettifogging ability, a long speech 
to show that the foundation of Cornell University, Mr. 
Cornell's endowment of it, and his contract to locate the 



EZRA CORNELL-1865-1874 321 

lands for it were parts of a great cheat and swindle. This 
thesis, developed in all the moods and tenses of abuse be- 
fore the legislature, was next day published at length in the 
leading journals of the metropolis, and echoed throughout 
the Union. The time for these attacks was skilfully 
chosen; the Credit Mobilier and other schemes had been 
revealed at Washington, and everybody was only too ready 
to believe any charge against anybody. That Mr. Cornell 
had been known for forty years as an honest man seemed 
to go for nothing. 

The enemies of the university were prompt to supyjort 
the charges, and they found some echoes even among those 
who were benefited by his generosity— even among the 
students themselves. At this I felt it my duty to call the 
whole student body together, and, in a careful speech, 
to explain Mr. Cornell's transactions, answering the 
charges fully. This speech, though spread through the 
State, could evidently do but little toward righting the 
wrong; but it brought to me what I shall always feel a 
great honor— a share in the abuse showered mainly on 
him. 

Very characteristic was Mr. Cornell's conduct under 
this outrage. That same faith in justice, that same pa- 
tience under wrong, which he always showed, was more 
evident than ever. 

On the morning after the attack in the legislature had 
been blazoned in all the leading newspapers— in the early 
hours, and after a sleepless night— I heard the rattle of 
gravel against my window-panes. On rising, I found Mr. 
Cornell standing below. He was serene and cheerful, and 
had evidently taken the long walk up the hill to quiet my 
irritation. His first words were a jocose prelude. The 
bells of the university, which were then chimed at six 
o'clock, were ringing merrily, and he called out, "Come 
down here and listen to the chimes; I have found a spot 
where you can hear them directly with one ear, and their 
echo with the other." 

When I had come down, we first investigated the echo 

I.-21 



322 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-II 

of the chime, which had really aroused his interest; then 
he said seriously: "Don't make yourself unhappy over 
this matter; it will turn out to be a good thing for the 
university. I have long foreseen that this attack must 
come, but have feared that it would come after my death, 
when the facts would be forgotten, and the transactions 
little understood. I am glad that the charges are made 
now, while I am here to answer them. ' ' We then discussed 
the matter, and it was agreed that he should telegraph and 
write Governor Dix, asking him to appoint an investigat- 
ing committee, of which the majority should be from 
the political party opposed to his own. This was done. 
The committee was composed of Horatio Seymour, for- 
merly governor of the State and Democratic candidate 
for the Presidency of the United States; William A. 
Wheeler, Vice-President of the United States ; and John 
D. Van Buren, all three men of the highest standing, and 
two of them politically opposed to Mr. Cornell. 

During the long investigation which ensued in New 
York and at Ithaca, he never lost his patience, though at 
times sorely tried. Various disappointed schemers, among 
these one person who had not been allowed to make an 
undue profit out of the university lands, and another who 
had been allowed to depart from a professorship on ac- 
count of hopeless incompetency, were the main witnesses. 
The onslaught was led by the person who made the attack 
in the legislature, and he had raked together a mass of 
half-truths and surmises; but the evidence on Mr. Cor- 
nell's side consisted of a complete exhibition of all the 
facts and documents. The unanimous report of the com- 
mittee was all that his warmest friends could desire ; and 
its recommendations regarding the management of the 
fund were such as Mr. Cornell had long wished, but which 
he had hardly dared ask. The result was a complete tri- 
umph for him. 

Yet the attacks continued. The same paper which had 
been so prominent in sounding them through the western 
part of the State continued them as before, and, almost 



EZRA CORNELL -18G5 -1874 323 

to the very day of his death, assailed him periodically as 
a ' ' land jobber, " " land grabber, ' ' and ' ' land thief. ' ' But 
he took these foul attacks by tricky declaimers and his 
vindication by three of his most eminent fellow-citizens 
with the same serenity. That there was in him a profound 
contempt for the wretched creatures who assailed him 
and imputed to him motives as vile as their own can 
hardly be doubted ; yet, though I was with him constantly 
during this period, I never heard him speak harshly of 
them ; nor could I ever see that this injustice diminished 
his good will toward his fellow-men and his desire to bene- 
fit them. 

At the very time when these attacks were at their worst, 
he was giving especial thought to the problem of bringing 
education at the university within reach of young men of 
good ability and small means. I am quite within bounds in 
saying that he gave an hour to thought upon this for 
every minute he gave to thought upon the attacks of his 
enemies. 

It was during this period that he began building his 
beautiful house near the university, and in this he showed 
some of his peculiarities. He took much pains to secure a 
tasteful plan, and some of the ideas embodied in it evi- 
dently resulted from his study of beautiful country-houses 
in England. Characteristic of him also was his way of 
carrying on the work. Having visited several quarries in 
various parts of the State, in order to choose the best 
possible building-stone, he employed some German stone- 
carvers who had recently left work upon the Cathedral of 
Cologne, brought them to Ithaca, and allowed them to work 
on with no interference save from the architect. If they 
gave a month or more to the carving of a single capital 
or corbel, he made no remonstrance. When he had thus 
secured the best stone-work, he selected the best seasoned 
oak and walnut and called skilful carpenters from Eng- 
land. 

In thus going abroad for artisans there was no want 
of loyalty to his countrymen, nor was there any alloy 



324 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-II 

of vanity in his motives. His purpose evidently was 
to erect a house which should be as perfect a specimen 
of the builder 's art as he could make it, and therefore use- 
ful, as an example of thoroughly good work, to the local 
workmen. 

In connection with this, another incident throws light 
upon his characteristics. Above the front entrance of the 
house was a scroll, or ribbon, in stone, evidently intended 
for a name or motto. The words carved there were, ' ' True 
and Firm. " It is a curious evidence of the petty criticism 
which beset him in those days, that this motto was at times 
cited as a proof of his vainglory. It gives me pleasure 
to relieve any mind sensitive on this point, and to vindi- 
cate the truth of history, by saying that it was I who 
placed the motto there. Calling his attention one day to 
the scroll and to the need of an inscription, I suggested 
a translation of the old German motto, "Treu und Fest"; 
and, as he made no objection, I wrote it out for the stone- 
cutters, but told Mr. Cornell that there were people, per- 
haps, who might translate the last word "obstinate." 

The point of this lay in the fact, which Mr. Cornell knew 
very well, that he was frequently charged with obstinacy. 
Yet an obstinate man, in the evil sense of that word, he 
was not. For several years it fell to my lot to discuss a 
multitude of questions with him, and reasonableness was 
one of his most striking characteristics. He was one of 
those very rare strong men who recognize adequately their 
own limitations. True, when he had finally made up his 
mind in a matter fully within his own province, he re- 
mained firm; but I have known very few men, wealthy, 
strong, successful, as he was, so free from the fault of 
thinking that, because they are good judges of one class of 
questions, they are equally good in all others. One mark of 
an obstinate man is the announcement of opinions upon 
subjects regarding which his experience and previous 
training give him little or no means of judging. This was 
not at all the case with Mr. Cornell. When questions arose 
regarding internal university management, or courses of 



EZRA CORNELL-1865-1874 325 

study, or the choice of professors, or plans for their ac- 
commodation, he was never quick in announcing or tena- 
cious in holding an opinion. There was no purse pride 
about him. He evidently did not believe that his success 
in building up a fortune had made him an expert or judge 
in questions to which he had never paid special attention. 

During the last year or two of his life, I saw not so 
much of him as during several previous years. He had 
become greatly interested in various railway projects 
having as their purpose the connection of Ithaca, as a 
university town, with the State at large; and he threw 
himself into these plans with great energy. His course in 
this was prompted by a public spirit as large and pure as 
that which had led him to found the university. When, at 
the suggestion of sundry friends, I ventured to remon- 
strate with him against going so largely into these railway 
enterprises at his time of life, he said: "I shall live twenty 
years longer, and make a million of dollars more for the 
university endowment." Alas! within six months from 
that day he lay dead in the midst of many broken hopes. 
His plans, which, under other circumstances, would have 
been judged wise, seemed for a time wrecked by the finan- 
cial crisis which had just come upon the country. 

In his last hours I visited him frequently. His mind 
remained clear, and he showed his old freedom from any 
fault-finding spirit, though evidently oppressed by busi- 
ness cares and bodily suffering. His serenity was espe- 
cially evident as I sat with him the night before his 
death, and I can never forget the placidity of his counte- 
nance, both then and on the next morning, when all was 

ended. 

Something should be said regarding Mr. Cornell's po- 
litical ideas. In the legislature he was a firm Republican, 
but as free as possible from anything like partizan 
bigotry. Party ties in local matters sat lightly upon him. 
He spoke in public very little, and took far greater in- 
terest in public improvement than in party advantage. 
With many of his political opponents his relations were 



326 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-II 

most friendly. For such Democrats as Hiram Sibley, 
Erastus Brooks, and William Kelly he had the deepest 
respect and admiration. He cared little for popular 
clamor on any subject, braving it more than once by 
his votes in the legislature. He was evidently willing to 
take any risk involved in waiting for the sober second 
thought of the people. He was as free from ordinary 
ambition as from selfishness : when there was a call from 
several parts of the State for his nomination as governor, 
he said quietly, "I prefer work for which I am better 
fitted." 

There was in his ordinary bearing a certain austerity 
and in his conversation an abruptness which interfered 
somewhat with his popularity. A student once said to 
me, "If Mr. Cornell would simply stand upon his pedestal 
as our 'Honored Founder,' and let us hurrah for him, 
that would please us mightily ; but when he comes into the 
laboratory and asks us gruffly, 'What are you wasting 
your time at now?' we don't like him so well." The fact 
on which this remark was based was that Mr. Cornell 
liked greatly to walk quietly through the laboratories and 
drafting-rooms, to note the work. Now and then, when 
he saw a student doing something which especially in- 
terested him, he was evidently anxious, as he was wont 
to say, ' ' to see what the fellow is made of, ' ' and he would 
frequently put some provoking question, liking nothing 
better than to receive a pithy answer. Of his kind feel- 
ings toward students I could say much. He was not in- 
clined to coddle them, but was ever ready to help any who 
were deserving. 

Despite his apparent austerity, he was singularly free 
from harshness in his judgments. There were times when 
he would have been justified in outbursts of bitterness 
against those who attacked him in ways so foul and 
maligned him in ways so vile; but I never heard any 
bitter reply from him. In his politics there was never 
a drop of bitterness. Only once or twice did I hear 
him allude to any conduct which displeased him, and then 



EZRA CORNELL- 18G5-1874 327 

his comments were rather playful than otherwise. On one 
occasion, when he had written to a gentleman of great 
wealth and deserved repute as a philanthropist, asking 
him to join in carrying the burden of the land locations, 
and had received an unfavorable answer, he made a re- 
mark which seemed to me rather harsh. To this I replied : 

"Mr. Cornell, Mr. is not at all in fault; he does not 

understand the question as you do ; everybody knows that 
he is a very liberal man." "Oh," said Mr. Cornell, "it 's 
easy enough to be liberal; the only hard part is drawing 
the check." 

Of his intellectual characteristics, foresight was the most 
remarkable. Of all men in the country who had to do 
with the college land grant of 1862, he alone discerned the 
possibilities involved and had courage to make them actual. 

Clearness of thought on all matters to which he gave his 
attention was another striking characteristic ; hence, when- 
ever he put anything on paper, it was lucid and co- 
gent. There seems at times in his writings some of the 
clear, quaint shrewdness so well known in Abraham Lin- 
coln. Very striking examples of this are to be found in 
his legislative speeches, in his address at the opening of 
the university, and in his letters. 

Among his moral characteristics, his truthfulness, per- 
sistence, courage, and fortitude were most strongly 
marked. These qualities made him a man of peace. He 
regarded life as too short to be wasted in quarrels; his 
steady rule was never to begin a lawsuit or have anything 
to do with one, if it could be avoided. The joy in 
litigation and squabble, which has been the weakness of 
so many men claiming to be strong, and the especial 
curse of so many American churches, colleges, universi- 
ties, and other public organizations, had no place in his 
strong, tolerant nature. He never sought to publish the 
sins of any one in the courts or to win the repute of an 
uncompromising fighter. In this peaceable disposition he 
was prompted not only by his greatest moral quality :- 
his charity toward his fpllow-men, but by his greatest intel- 



328 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-II 

lectual quality:— his foresight; for he knew well "the glo- 
rious uncertainty of the law." He was a builder, not a 
gladiator. 

There resulted from these qualities an equanimity which 
I have never seen equaled. When his eldest son had been 
elected to the highest office in the gift of the State Assem- 
bly, and had been placed, evidently, on the way to the 
governor's chair,— afterward attained,— though it must 
have gratified such a father, he never made any reference 
to it in my hearing; and when the body of his favorite 
grandson, a most winning and promising boy, killed in- 
stantly by a terrible accident, was brought into his pres- 
ence, though his heart must have bled, his calmness seemed 
almost superhuman. 

His religious ideas were such as many excellent people 
would hardly approve. He had been born into the Society 
of Friends ; and their quietness, simplicity, freedom from 
noisy activity, and devotion to the public good attached 
him to them. But his was not a bigoted attachment; he 
went freely to various churches, aiding them without dis- 
tinction of sect, though finally he settled into a steady at- 
tendance at the Unitarian Church in Ithaca, for the pastor 
of which he conceived a great respect and liking. He was 
never inclined to say much about religion; but, in our 
talks, he was wont to quote with approval from Pope's 
"Universal Prayer"— and especially the lines: 

" Teach me to feel another's woe, 
To hide the fault I see ; 
The mercy I to others show, 
That mercy show to me." 

On the mere letter of Scripture he dwelt little; and, 
while he never obtruded opinions that might shock any 
person, and was far removed from scoffing or irreverence, 
he did not hesitate to discriminate between parts of our 
Sacred Books which he considered as simply legendary 
and parts which were to him pregnant with eternal truth. 



EZRA CORNELL-1865-1874 329 

His religion seemed to take shape in a deeply reverent 
feeling toward his Creator, and in a constant desire to 
improve the condition of his fellow-creatures. He was 
never surprised or trouhled by anything which any other 
human being believed or did not believe; of intolerance 
he was utterly incapable. He sought no reputation as a 
philanthropist, cared little for approval, and nothing for 
applause; but I can say of him, without reserve, that, 
during all the years I knew him, "he went about doing 
good." 



CHAPTER XIX 

ORGANIZATION OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY- 1865-1868 

A LTHOUGH my formal election to the university presi- 
/\ dency did not take place until 1867, the duties im- 
plied by that office had already been discharged by me 
during two years. 

While Mr. Cornell devoted himself to the financial ques- 
tions arising from the new foundation, he intrusted all 
other questions to me. Indeed, my duties may be said to 
have begun when, as chairman of the Committee on Edu- 
cation in the State Senate, I resisted all efforts to divide 
the land-grant fund between the People's College and 
the State Agricultural College; to have been continued 
when I opposed the frittering away of the entire grant 
among more than twenty small sectarian colleges; and 
to have taken a more direct form when I drafted the 
educational clauses of the university charter and advo- 
cated it before the legislature and in the press. This 
advocacy was by no means a light task. The influential 
men who flocked to Albany, seeking to divide the fund 
among various sects and localities, used arguments often 
plausible and sometimes forcible. These I dealt with 
on various occasions, but especially in a speech before the 
State Senate in 1865, in which was shown the character 
of the interested opposition, the farcical equipment of 
the People's College, the failure of the State Agricul- 
tural College, the inadequacy of the sectarian colleges, 
even though they called themselves universities; and I 
did all in my power to communicate to my colleagues 

330 



ORGANIZATION OF CORNELL- 18G5-1868 331 

something of my own enthusiasm for a university suit- 
ably endowed, free from sectarian trammels, centrally 
situated, and organized to meet fully the wants of the 
State as regarded advanced education, general and 
technical. 

Three points I endeavored especially to impress upon 
them in this speech. First, that while, as regards primary 
education, the policy of the State should be diffusion of 
resources, it should be, as regards university education, 
concentration of resources. Secondly, that sectarian col- 
leges could not do the work required. Thirdly, that any 
institution for higher education in the State must form an 
integral part of the whole system of public instruction; 
that the university should not be isolated from the school 
system, as were the existing colleges, but that it should 
have a living connection with the system, should push its 
roots down into it and through it, drawing life from it 
and sending life back into it. Mr. Cornell accepted this 
view at once. Mr. Horace Greeley, who, up to that time, 
had supported the People's College, was favorably im- 
pressed by it, and, more than anything else, it won for us 
his support. To insure this vital connection of the pro- 
posed university with the school system, I provided in 
the charter for four "State scholarships" in each of the 
one hundred and twenty-eight Assembly districts. These 
scholarships were to be awarded to the best scholars in the 
public schools of each district, after due examination, one 
each year; each scholarship entitling the holder to free 
instruction in the university for four years. Thus the 
university and the schools were bound closely together by 
the constant and living tie of five hundred and twelve 
students. As the number of Assembly districts under the 
new constitution was made, some years later, one hundred 
and fifty, the number of these competitive free scholar- 
ships is now six hundred. They have served their pur- 
pose well. Thirty years of this connection have greatly 
uplifted the whole school system of the State, and 
made the university a life-giving power in it; while this 



332 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-III 

uplifting of the school system has enabled the university 
steadily to raise and improve its own standard of in- 
struction. 

But during the earlier period of our plans there was 
one serious obstacle— Charles James Folger. He was the 
most powerful member of the Senate, its president, and 
chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He had already won 
wide respect as a county judge, had been longer in the Sen- 
ate than any other member, and had already given ample 
evidence of the qualities which later in life raised him to 
some of the highest positions, State and National. His in- 
stincts would have brought him to our side; for he was 
broad-minded, enlightened, and earnestly in favor of all 
good legislation. He was also my personal friend, and 
when I privately presented my views to him he acquiesced 
in them. But there were two difficulties. First, he had in 
his own city a denominational college, his own alma 
mater, which, though small, was influential. Still worse 
for us, he had in his district the State Agricultural Col- 
lege, which the founding of Cornell University must neces- 
sarily wipe out of existence. He might rise above the first 
of these difficulties, but the second seemed insurmountable. 
No matter how much in sympathy with our main aim, he 
could not sacrifice a possession so dear to his constituency 
as the State College of Agriculture. He felt that he had 
no right to do so ; he knew also that to do so would be to 
sacrifice his political future, and we felt, as he did, that he 
had no right to do this. 

But here came in to help us the culmination of a series 
of events as unexpected as that which had placed the land- 
grant fund at our disposal just at the time when Mr. Cor- 
nell and myself met in the State Senate. For years a 
considerable body of thoughtful men throughout the State, 
more especially of the medical profession, had sought to 
remedy a great evil in the treatment of the insane. As far 
back as the middle of the century, Senator Bradford of 
Cortland had taken the lead in an investigation of the 
system then existing, and his report was a frightful ex- 



ORGANIZATION OF CORNELL-18G5-1868 333 

posure. Throughout the State, lunatics whose families 
were unable to support them at the State or private asy- 
lums were huddled together in the poorhouses of the vari- 
ous counties. Their condition was heartrending. They 
were constantly exposed to neglect, frequently to extremes 
of cold and hunger, and sometimes to brutality : thus mild 
lunacy often became raving madness. For some years be- 
fore my election to the Senate the need of a reform had 
been urged upon the legislative committees by a physician 
—Dr. Willard of Albany. He had taken this evil condi- 
tion of things much to heart, and year after year had come 
before the legislature urging the creation of a new institu- 
tion, which he wished named after an eminent physician 
of Albany who had in his day done what was possible to 
remedy the evil— Dr. Beck. But year after year Dr. 
Willard 's efforts, like those of Dr. Beck before him, had 
been in vain. Session after session the "Bill to establish 
the Beck Asylum for the Chronic Insane "was rejected,— 
the legislature shrinking from the cost of it. But one day, 
as we were sitting in the Senate, appalling news came from 
the Assembly : Dr. Willard, while making one more pas- , 
sionate appeal for the asylum, had fallen dead in the pres- 
ence of the committee. The result was a deep and wide- 
spread feeling of compunction, and while we were under 
the influence of this I sought Judge Folger and showed him 
his opportunity to do two great things. I said: "It rests 
with you to remedy this cruel evil which has now cost 
Dr. Willard his life, and at the same time to join us in 
carrying the Cornell University Bill. Let the legislature 
create a new asylum for the chronic insane of the State. 
Now is the time of all times. Instead of calling it the 
Beck Asylum, give it the name of Willard— the man who 
died in advocating it. Place it upon the Agricultural 
College property on the shores of Seneca Lake in your 
district. Your constituents are sure to prefer a living 
State asylum to a dying Agricultural College, and will 
thoroughly support you in both the proposed measures. ' : 
This suggestion Judge Folger received with favor. The 



334 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-III 

"Willard Asylum was created, and he became one of our 
strongest supporters. 

Both Mr. Cornell's financial plans and my educational 
plans in the new university charter were wrought into 
final shape by him. As chairman of the Judiciary Com- 
mittee he reported our bill to the Senate, and at various 
critical periods gave us his earnest support. Quite likely 
doctrinaires will stigmatize our conduct in this matter as 
"log-rolling"; the men who always criticize but never 
construct may even call it a "bargain." There was 
no "bargain" and no "log-rolling," but they may call 
it what they like ; I believe that we were both of us thor- 
oughly in the right. For our coming together in this way 
gave to the State the Willard Asylum and the Cornell 
University, and without our thus coming together neither 
of these would have been created. 

But in spite of this happy compromise, the struggle for 
our university charter, as has already been seen, was long 
and severe. The opposition of over twenty sectarian col- 
leges, and of active politicians from every quarter of the 
State where these colleges had been established, made our 
work difficult ; but at last it was accomplished. Prepara- 
tions for the new institution were now earnestly pressed 
on, and for a year I gave up very much of my time to them, 
keeping in constant communication with Mr. Cornell, fre- 
quently visiting Ithaca, and corresponding with trustees 
in various parts of the State and with all others at home 
or abroad who seemed able to throw light on any of the 
problems we had to solve. 

The question now arose as to the presidency of the in- 
stitution ; and, as time passed on and duties increased, this 
became more and more pressing. In the previous chapter 
I have given some account of the circumstances attending 
my election and of Mr. Cornell's relation to it; but this is 
perhaps the place for stating one of the difficulties which 
stood in the way of my acceptance, and which, indeed, 
greatly increased my cares during all the first years of my 
presidency. The death of my father and uncle, who had 



ORGANIZATION OF CORNELL-18G5-18C8 335 

for many years carried on a large and wide-spread busi- 
ness, threw upon me new responsibilities. It was during the 
Civil War, when panic after panic ran through the Ameri- 
can business world, making the interests now devolving 
upon me all the more burdensome. I had no education 
for business and no liking for it, but, under the pressure 
of necessity, decided to do the best I could, yet determining 
that just as soon as these business affairs could be turned 
over to others it should be done. Several years elapsed, 
and those the busiest so far as the university was con- 
cerned, before such a release became possible. So it hap- 
pened that during the first and most trying years of the 
new institution of Ithaca, I was obliged to do duty as 
senator of the State of New York, president of Cornell 
University, lecturer at the University of Michigan, presi- 
dent of the National Bank of Syracuse and director in 
two other banks,— one being at Oswego,— director in the 
New York Central and Lake Shore railways, director in 
the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal,— to say nothing 
of positions on boards of various similar corporations 
and the executorship of two widely extended estates. 
It was a trying time for me. There was, however, some 
advantage; for this epoch in my life put me in relations 
with some of the foremost business men in the United 
States, among them Cornelius Vanderbilt, William H. 
Vanderbilt, Dean Richmond, Daniel Drew, and various 
other men accustomed to prompt and decisive dealing with 
large business affairs. I recognized the value of such as- 
sociations and endeavored to learn something from them, 
but was determined, none the less, to end this sort of 
general activity as early as it could be done consistently 
with justice to my family. Several years were required, 
and those the very years in which university cares were 
most pressing. But finally my intention was fully carried 
out. The bank over which my father had presided so 
many years I was able to wind up in a way satisfactory 
to all concerned, not only repaying the shareholders, 
but giving them a large surplus. From the other cor- 



336 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -III 

porations also I gradually escaped, turning my duties 
over to those better fitted for them. Still many outside 
cares remained, and in one way or another I was obliged 
to take part in affairs which I would have gladly shunned. 
Yet there was consolation in the idea that, as my main 
danger was that of drifting into a hermit life among pro- 
fessors and books, anything that took me out of this for a 
limited length of time was not without compensating ad- 
vantages. 

Just previously to my election to the university presi- 
dency I had presented a "plan of organization," which, 
having been accepted and printed by the trustees, formed 
the mold for the main features of the new institution ; and 
early among my duties came the selection and nomination 
of professors. In these days one is able to choose from a 
large body of young men holding fellowships in the vari- 
ous larger universities of the United States ; but then, with 
the possible exception of two or three at Harvard, there 
was not a fellowship, so far as I can remember, in the whole 
country. The choosing of professors was immeasurably 
more difficult than at present. With reference to this point, 
a very eminent graduate of Harvard then volunteered to 
me some advice, which at first sight looked sound, but which 
I soon found to be inapplicable. He said : ' ' You must se- 
cure at any cost the foremost men in the United States in 
every department. In this way alone can a real university 
be created." Trying the Socratic method upon him, I 
asked, in reply, ' ' How are we to get such men 1 The fore- 
most man in American science is undoubtedly Agassiz, but 
he has refused all offers of high position at Paris made him 
by the French Emperor. The main objects of his life are 
the creation of his great museum at Harvard and his inves- 
tigations and instruction in connection with it ; he has de- 
clared that he has 'no time to waste in making money!' 
What sum or what inducement of any sort can transfer 
him from Harvard to a new institution on the distant hills 
of central New York? So, too, with the most eminent 
men at the other universities. What sum will draw them 



ORGANIZATION OP CORNELL- 1865-18G8 337 

to us from Harvard, Yale, Columbia, the University of 
Virginia, and the University of Michigan? An endow- 
ment twice as large as ours would be unavailing." There- 
fore it was that I broached, as a practical measure, in my 
"plan of organization," the system which I had discussed 
tentatively with George William Curtis several years be- 
fore, and to which he referred afterward in his speech at 
the opening of the university at Ithaca. This was to take 
into our confidence the leading professors in the more 
important institutions of learning, and to secure from 
them, not the ordinary, conventional paper testimonials, 
but confidential information as to their young men likely 
to do the best work in various fields, to call these young 
men to our resident professorships, and then to call the 
most eminent men we could obtain for non-resident pro- 
fessorships or lectureships. This idea was carried out to 
the letter. The most eminent men in various universities 
gave us confidential advice; and thus it was that I was 
enabled to secure a number of bright, active, energetic 
young men as our resident professors, mingling with them 
two or three older men, whose experience and developed 
judgment seemed necessary in the ordinary conduct of our 
affairs. 

As to the other part of the plan, I secured Agassiz, 
Lowell, Curtis, Bayard Taylor, Goldwin Smith, Theodore 
Dwight, George W. Greene, John Stanton Gould, and at a 
later period Froude, Freeman, and others, as non-resident 
professors and lecturers. Of the final working of this 
system I shall speak later. 

The question of buildings also arose ; but, alas ! I could 
not reproduce my air-castles. For our charter required 
us to have the university in operation in October, 1868, 
and there was no time for careful architectural prepara- 
tion. Moreover, the means failed us. All that we could 
then do was to accept a fairly good plan for our main 
structures; to make them simple, substantial, and digni- 
fied ; to build them of stone from our own quarries ; and 
so to dispose them that future architects might so combine 

j 22 



338 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -III 

other buildings with them as to form an impressive quad- 
rangle on the upper part of the university property. To 
this plan Mr. Cornell gave his hearty assent. It was then 
arranged, with his full sanction, that the university build- 
ings should ultimately consist of two great groups: the 
first or upper group to be a quadrangle of stone, and the 
second or lower group to be made up of buildings of 
brick more freely disposed, according to our future needs 
and means. Although this plan has unfortunately been 
departed from in some minor respects, it has in general 
turned out well. 

Having called a number of professors and seen founda- 
tions laid for " Morrill Hall," I sailed in April of 1868 
for Europe, in order to study technical institutions, to 
purchase needed equipment, and to secure certain profes- 
sors such as could not then be found in our own country. 
Thus far my knowledge of higher education in Europe 
had been confined almost entirely to the universities; 
but now I went carefully through various technical 
institutions, among them the English Agricultural Col- 
lege at Cirencester, the Agricultural Experiment Station 
at Rothamstead, the French Agricultural College at 
Grignon, the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers at Paris, 
the Veterinary School at Alfort, the German Agricul- 
tural College at Hohenheim, the Technical School and 
Veterinary College at Berlin, and others. As to equip- 
ment, wherever I found valuable material I bought it. 
Thus were brought together for our library a very large 
collection of books in all the principal departments ; physi- 
cal and chemical apparatus from London, Paris, Heidel- 
berg, and Berlin; chemicals from Berlin and Erfurt; the 
only duplicate of the royal collection of cereals and grasses 
and the great collection of British patent-office publica- 
tions from the British imperial authorities ; the Rau mod- 
els of plows from Hohenheim; the Brendel plant models 
from Breslau; the models of machine movements from 
London, Darmstadt, and Berlin; the plastic models of 
Auzoux from Paris ; and other apparatus and instruments 



ORGANIZATION OF CORNELL- 18G5-18G8 339 

from all parts of Europe, with diagrams and drawings 
from every institution where I could find them. During 
three months, from funds furnished by the university, by 
Mr. Cornell personally, and, I may be allowed to add, from 
my own personal resources, I expended for these purposes 
over sixty thousand dollars, a sum which in those days 
represented much more than in these. 

As to non-resident professors, I secured in London 
Goldwin Smith, who had recently distinguished himself 
by his works as a historian and as regius professor of 
history at Oxford; and I was successful in calling Dr. 
James Law, who, though a young man, had already made 
himself a name in veterinary science. It seemed to many 
a comical juxtaposition, and various witticisms were made 
at my expense over the statement that I had "brought 
back an Oxford professor and a Scotch horse-doctor." 
But never were selections more fortunate. Goldwin Smith, 
by his high character, his broad and deep scholarship, his 
devotion not only to his professorship but to the general 
university work, his self-denial in behalf of the university 
and its students, rendered priceless services. He bore all 
privations cheerfully and braved all discouragements man- 
fully. Never were there better historical lectures than his. 
They inspired us all, and the impulse then given is still 
felt. So, too, Dr. Law, in his field, was invaluable, and this 
was soon felt throughout the State. Of him I shall speak 
later. 



CHAPTER XX 

THE FIRST YEARS OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY — 1868-1870 

ON the 7th of September, 1868, came the formal open- 
ing of the university. The straggle for its charter 
had attracted much attention in all parts of the State, and 
a large body of spectators, with about four hundred stu- 
dents, assembled at the Cornell Library Hall in Ithaca. 
Though the charter had required us to begin in October, 
there had seemed for some time very little chance of 
it. Mr. Cornell had been absent in the woods of the upper 
Mississippi and on the plains of Kansas, selecting univer- 
sity lands ; I had been absent for some months in Europe, 
securing plans and equipment; and as, during our absence, 
the contractor for the first main building, Morrill Hall, had 
failed, the work was wretchedly behindhand. The direct 
roads to the university site were as yet impracticable, for 
the Cascadilla ravine and the smaller one north of it were 
still unbridged. The grounds were unkempt, with heaps 
of earth and piles of material in all directions. The great 
quantities of furniture, apparatus, and books which I had 
sent from Europe had been deposited wherever storage 
could be found. Typical was the case of the large Holtz 
electrical machine from Germany. It was in those days a 
novelty, and many were anxious to see it ; but it could not 
be found, and it was only discovered several weeks later, 
when the last pots and pans were pulled out of the kitchen 
store-room in the cellar of the great stone barrack known 
as Cascadilla House. All sorts of greatly needed material 
had been delayed in steamships and on railways, or was 

340 



THE FIRST YEARS OF CORNELL -1868-1870 341 

stuck fast in custom-houses and warehouses from Berlin 
and Paris to Ithaca. Our friends had toiled heroic- 
ally during our absence, but the little town— then much 
less energetic than now— had been unable to furnish 
the work required in so short a time. The heating ap- 
paratus and even the doors for the students' rooms were 
not in place until weeks after winter weather had set in. To 
complicate matters still more, students began to come at 
a period much earlier and in numbers far greater than we 
had expected ; and the first result of this was that, in get- 
ting ready for the opening, Mr. Cornell and myself were 
worn out. For two or three days before my inauguration 
both of us were in the hands of physicians and in bed, and 
on the morning of the day appointed we were taken in 
carriages to the hall where the ceremony was to take place. 
To Mr. Cornell's brief speech I have alluded elsewhere; 
my own presented my ideas more at length. They were 
grouped in four divisions. The first of these related to 
''Foundation Ideas," which were announced as follows: 
First, the close union of liberal and practical instruction ; 
second, unsectarian control ; third, a living union between 
the university and the whole school system of the State; 
fourth, concentration of revenues for advanced education. 
The second division was that of ' ' Formative Ideas ' ' ; and 
under these— First, equality between different courses of 
study. In this I especially developed ideas which had 
occurred to me as far back as my observations after 
graduation at Yale, where the classical students belonging 
to the "college proper" were given a sort of supremacy, 
and scientific students relegated to a separate institution 
at considerable distance, and therefore deprived of much 
general, and even special, culture which would have 
greatly benefited them. Indeed, they seemed not consid- 
ered as having any souls to be saved, since no provision 
was made for them at the college chapel. Second, increased 
development of scientific studies. The third main division 
was that of "Governmental Ideas"; and under these— 
First, ' ' the regular and frequent infusion of new life into 



342 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT- IV 

the governing board. ' ' Here a system at that time entirely 
new in the United States was proposed. Instead of the 
usual life tenure of trustees, their term was made five years 
and they were to be chosen by ballot. Secondly, it was 
required that as soon as the graduates of the university 
numbered fifty they should select one trustee each year, 
thus giving the alumni one third of the whole number 
elected. Third, there was to be a system of self-govern- 
ment administered by the students themselves. As to this 
third point, I must frankly confess that my ideas were 
vague, unformed, and finally changed by the logic of 
events. As the fourth and final main division, I presented 
"Permeating Ideas"; and of these— First, the develop- 
ment of the individual man in all his nature, in all his 
powers, as a being intellectual, moral, and religious. 
Secondly, bringing the powers of the man thus developed 
to bear usefully upon society. 

In conclusion, I alluded to two groups of "Eliminated 
Ideas, ' ' the first of these being the ' ' Ideas of the Pedants, ' ' 
and the second the "Ideas of the Philistines." As to the 
former, I took pains to guard the institution from those 
who, in the higher education, substitute dates for history, 
gerund-grinding for literature, and formulas for science; 
as to the latter, I sought to guard it from the men to whom 
"Gain is God, and Gunnybags his Prophet." 

At the close, referring to Mr. Cornell, who had been too 
weak to stand while delivering his speech, and who was at 
that moment sitting near me, I alluded to his noble plans 
and to the opposition, misrepresentation, and obloquy he 
had met thus far, and in doing so turned toward him. The 
sight of him, as he thus sat, looking so weak, so weary, so 
broken, for a few moments utterly incapacitated me. I 
was myself, at the time, in but little better condition than 
he ; and as there rushed into my mind memories of the pre- 
vious ten days at his house, when I had heard him groan- 
ing in pain through almost every night, it flashed upon me 
how utterly hopeless was the university without his sup- 
port. My voice faltered; I could for a moment say no- 



THE FIRST YEARS OF CORNELL-18G8-1870 34:3 

thing ; then came a revulsion. I asked myself, "What will 
this great audience think of us?" How will our enemies, 
some of whom I see scattered about the audience, exult 
over this faltering at the outset ! A feeling of shame came 
over me ; but just at that moment I saw two or three strong 
men from different parts of the State, among them my old 
friend Mr. Sedgwick of Syracuse, in the audience, and Mr. 
Sage and Mr. McGraw among the trustees, evidently 
affected by my allusion to the obloquy and injustice which 
Mr. Cornell had met thus far. This roused me. But 
I could no longer read ; I laid my manuscript aside and 
gave the ending in words which occurred to me as I 
stood then and there. They were faltering and inade- 
quate; but I felt that the vast majority in that audience, 
representing all parts of our commonwealth, were with 
us, and I asked nothing more. 

In the afternoon came exercises at the university 
grounds. The chime of nine bells which Miss Jenny 
McGraw had presented to us had been temporarily hung 
in a wooden tower placed very near the spot where now 
stands the porch of the library ; and, before the bells were 
rung for the first time, a presentation address was deliv- 
ered by Mr. Francis Miles Finch, since justice of the Court 
of Appeals of the State and dean of the University Law 
School ; and this was followed by addresses from the su- 
perintendent of public instruction, and from our non-resi- 
dent professors Agassiz and George William Curtis. 

Having again been taken out of bed and wrapped up 
carefully, I was carried up the hill to hear them. All the 
speeches were fine ; but, just at the close, Curtis burst into 
a peroration which, in my weak physical condition, utterly 
unmanned me. He compared the new university to a 
newly launched ship— "all its sails set, its rigging full and 
complete from stem to stern, its crew embarked, its pas- 
sengers on board; and," he added, "even while I speak 
to you, even while this autumn sun sets in the west, the 
ship begins to glide over the waves, it goes forth rejoicing, 
every stitch of canvas spread, all its colors flying, its 



344 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-IV 

bells ringing, its heart-strings beating with hope and 
joy; and I say, God bless the ship, God bless the builder, 
God bless the chosen captain, God bless the crew, and, 
gentlemen undergraduates, may God bless all the pas- 
sengers ! ' ' 

The audience applauded; the chimes burst merrily 
forth ; but my heart sank within me. A feeling of ' ' gone- 
ness" came over me. Curtis 's simile was so perfect that 
I felt myself indeed on the deck of the ship, but not so much 
in the character of its "chosen captain" as of a seasick 
passenger. There was indeed reason for qualmish feel- 
ings. Had I drawn a picture of the ship at that moment, 
it would have been very different from that presented by 
Curtis. My mind was pervaded by our discouragements— 
by a realization of Mr. Cornell's condition and my own, 
the demands of our thoughtless friends, the attacks of our 
fanatical enemies, the inadequacy of our resources. The 
sense of all these things burst upon me, and the view about 
us was not reassuring. Not only were the university build- 
ings unready and the grounds unkempt, but all that part 
of our domain which is now devoted to the beautiful lawns 
about the university chapel, Barnes Hall, Sage College, 
and other stately edifices, was then a ragged corn-field 
surrounded by rail fences. No one knew better than I 
the great difficulties which were sure to beset us. Prob- 
ably no ship was ever launched in a condition so unfit to 
brave the storms. Even our lesser difficulties, though they 
may appear comical now, were by no means comical then. 
As a rule, Mr. Cornell had consulted me before making 
communications to the public ; but during my absence in 
Europe he had written a letter to the "New York Trib- 
une," announcing that students could support themselves, 
while pursuing their studies one half of each day in the 
university, by laboring the other half. In this he showed 
that sympathy with needy and meritorious young men 
which was one of his marked qualities, but his proclama- 
tion cost us dear. He measured the earnestness and en- 
durance and self-sacrifice of others by his own ; he did not 



THE FIRST YEARS OF CORNELL-1868-1870 345 

realize that not one man in a thousand was, in these re- 
spects, his equal. As a result of this "Tribune" letter, a 
multitude of eager young men pressed forward at the 
opening of the university and insisted on receiving self- 
supporting work. Nearly all of those who could offer 
skilled labor of any sort we were able to employ ; and 
many graduates of whom Cornell University is now proud 
supported themselves then by working as carpenters, ma- 
sons, printers, accountants, and shorthand-writers. But 
besides these were many who had never done any manual 
labor, and still more who had never done any labor re- 
quiring skill. An attempt was made to employ these in 
grading roads, laying out paths, helping on the farm, 
doing janitors' work, and the like. Some of them were 
successful ; most were not. It was found that it would be 
cheaper to support many of the applicants at a hotel and to 
employ day-laborers in their places. Much of their work 
had to be done over again at a cost greater than the origi- 
nal outlay should have been. Typical was the husking of 
Indian corn upon the university farm by student labor : it 
was found to cost more than the resultant corn could be 
sold for in the market. The expectations of these youth 
were none the less exuberant. One of them, who had never 
done any sort of manual labor, asked whether, while learn- 
ing to build machinery and supporting himself and his 
family, he could not lay up something against contingen- 
cies. Another, a teamster from a Western State, came to 
offer his services, and, on being asked what he wished to 
study, said that he wished to learn to read ; on being told 
that the public school in his own district was the place for 
that, he was very indignant, and quoted Mr. Cornell's 
words, ' ' I would found an institution where any person can 
find instruction in any study." Others, fairly good schol- 
ars, but of delicate build, having applied for self-support- 
ing employment, were assigned the lightest possible tasks 
upon the university grounds ; but, finding even this work 
too severe, wrote bitterly to leading metropolitan journals 
denouncing Mr. Cornell's bad faith. One came all the way 



346 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-IV 

from Russia, being able to make the last stages of his 
journey only by charity, and on arriving was found to be 
utterly incapable of sustained effort, physical or mental. 
The most definite part of his aims, as he announced them, 
was to convert the United States to the Russo-Greek 
Church. 

Added to these were dreamers and schemers of more 
mature age. The mails were burdened with their letters 
and our offices with their presence. Some had plans for 
the regeneration of humanity by inventing machines which 
they wished us to build, some by devising philosophies 
which they wished us to teach, some by writing books 
which they wished us to print ; most by taking professor- 
ships which they wished us to endow. The inevitable poli- 
tician also appeared ; and at the first meeting of the trus- 
tees two notorious party hacks came all the way from New 
York to tell us "what the people expected,"— which was 
the nomination of sundry friends of theirs to positions in 
the new institution. A severe strain was brought upon 
Mr. Cornell and myself in showing civility to these gentle- 
men; yet, as we were obliged to deny them, no suavity 
on our part could stay the inevitable result— their hostil- 
ity. The attacks of the denominational and local presses 
in the interests of institutions which had failed to tear the 
fund in pieces and to secure scraps of it were thus largely 
reinforced. Ever and anon came onslaughts upon us per- 
sonally and upon every feature of the institution, whether 
actual, probable, possible, or conceivable. One eminent 
editorial personage, having vainly sought to "unload" a 
member of his staff into one of our professorships, howled 
in a long article at the turpitude of Mr. Cornell in land 
matters, screamed for legislative investigation, and for 
years afterward never neglected an opportunity to strike 
a blow at the new institution. 

Some difficulties also showed themselves in the first 
working of our university machinery. In my "plan of 
organization," as well as in various addresses and reports, 
I had insisted that the university should present various 



THE FIRST YEARS OF CORNELL-1868-1870 347 

courses of instruction, general and special, and that stu- 
dents should be allowed much liberty of choice between 
these. This at first caused serious friction. It has dis- 
appeared, now that the public schools of the State have 
adjusted themselves to the proper preparation of stu- 
dents for the various courses; but at that time these 
difficulties were in full force and vigor. One of the most 
troublesome signs of this was the changing and shifting 
by students from course to course, which both injured 
them and embarrassed their instructors. To meet this 
tendency I not only addressed the students to show 
that good, substantial, continuous work on any one course 
which any one of them was likely to choose was far 
better than indecision and shifting about between vari- 
ous courses, but also reprinted for their use John Foster's 
famous ' ' Essay on Decision of Character. ' ' This tractate 
had done me much good in my student days and at various 
times since, when I had allowed myself to linger too long 
between different courses of action ; and I now distributed 
it freely, the result being that students generally made 
their election between courses with increased care, and 
when they had made it stood by it. 

Yet for these difficulties in getting the student body 
under way there were compensations, and best of these 
was the character and bearing of the students. There 
were, of course, sundry exhibitions of boyishness, but the 
spirit of the whole body was better than that of any simi- 
lar collection of young men I had ever seen. One reason 
was that we were happily spared any large proportion of 
rich men's sons, but the main reason was clearly the per- 
mission of choice between various courses of study in 
accordance with individual aims and tastes. In this way 
a far larger number were interested than had ever been 
under the old system of forcing all alike through one 
simple, single course, regardless of aims and tastes ; and 
thus it came that, even from the first, the tone at Cornell 
was given, not by men who affected to despise study, but 
by men who devoted themselves to study. It evidently 



348 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-IV 

became disreputable for any student not to be really at 
work in some one of the many courses presented. There 
were few cases really calling for discipline. I prized this 
fact all the more because it justified a theory of mine. I 
had long felt that the greatest cause of student turbulence 
and dissipation was the absence of interest in study conse- 
quent upon the fact that only one course was provided, 
and I had arrived at the conclusion that providing various 
courses, suited to various aims and tastes, would diminish 
this evil. 

As regards student discipline in the university, I had 
dwelt in my ' ' plan of organization ' ' upon the advisability 
of a departure from the system inherited from the English 
colleges, which was still widely prevailing. It had been 
developed in America probably beyond anything known 
in Great Britain and Germany, and was far less satisfac- 
tory than in these latter countries, for the simple reason 
that in them the university authorities have some legal 
power to secure testimony and administer punishment, 
while in America they have virtually none. The result had 
been most unfortunate, as I have shown in other parts of 
these chapters referring to various student escapades in the 
older American universities, some of them having cost hu- 
man life. I had therefore taken the ground that, so far as 
possible, students should be treated as responsible citizens; 
that, as citizens, they should be left to be dealt with by the 
constituted authorities; and that members of the faculty 
should no longer be considered as policemen. I had, dur- 
ing my college life, known sundry college tutors seriously 
injured while thus doing police duty; I have seen a pro- 
fessor driven out of a room, through the panel of a door, 
with books, boots, and bootjacks hurled at his head; and 
even the respected president of a college, a doctor of di- 
vinity, while patrolling buildings with the janitors, sub- 
jected to outrageous indignity. 

Fortunately the causes already named, to which may be 
added athletic sports, especially boating, so greatly dimin- 
ished student mischief at Cornell, that cases of discipline 



THE FIRST YEARS OF CORNELL- 1868 -1870 349 

were reduced to a minimum— so much so, in fact, that there 
were hardly ever any of a serious character. 1 felt that 
then and there was the time to reiterate the doctrine laid 
down in my "plan of organization," that a professor 
should not be called upon to be a policeman, and that if the 
grounds were to be policed, proper men should be em- 
ployed for that purpose. This doctrine was reasonable 
and it prevailed. The Cornell grounds and buildings, 
under the care of a patrol appointed for that purpose, 
have been carefully guarded, and never has a member of 
the faculty been called upon to perform police duty. 

There were indeed some cases requiring discipline by 
the faculty, and one of these will provoke a smile on the 
part of all who took part in it as long as they shall live. 
There had come to us a stalwart, sturdy New Englander, 
somewhat above the usual student age, and showing con- 
siderable aptitude for studies in engineering. Various 
complaints were made against him; but finally he was 
summoned before the faculty for a very singular breach 
of good taste, if not of honesty. The entire instructing 
body of that day being gathered about the long table in 
the faculty room, and I being at the head of the table, the 
culprit was summoned, entered, and stood solemnly be- 
fore us. Various questions were asked him, which he 
parried with great ingenuity. At last one was asked 

of a very peculiar sort, as follows: "Mr. , did you, 

last month, in the village of Dundee, Yates County, pass 
yourself off as Professor of this university, announ- 
cing a lecture and delivering it in his name?" He an- 
swered blandly, ' ' Sir, I did go to Dundee in Yates County ; 
I did deliver a lecture there ; I did not announce myself as 

Professor of Cornell University; what others may 

have done I do not know; all I know is that at the close 
of my lecture several leading men of the town came for- 
ward and said that they had heard a good many lectures 
given by college professors from all parts of the State, 
and that they had never had one as good as mine.' ; I 
think, of all the strains upon my risible faculties during 



350 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -IV 

my life, this answer provoked the greatest, and the re- 
mainder of the faculty were clearly in the same condition. 
I dismissed the youth at once, and hardly was he outside 
the door when a burst of titanic laughter shook the court 
and the youth was troubled no more. 

Far more serious was another case. The usual good- 
natured bickering between classes had gone on, and as a 
consequence certain sophomores determined to pay off 
some old scores against members of the junior class, at a 
junior exhibition. To do this they prepared a "mock 
programme," which, had it been merely comic, as some 
others had been, would have provoked no ill feeling. Un- 
fortunately, some miscreant succeeded in introducing into 
it allusions of a decidedly Rabelaisian character. The 
evening arrived, a large audience of ladies and gentlemen 
were assembled, and this programme was freely distrib- 
uted. The proceeding was felt to be an outrage; and I 
served notice on the class that the real offender or offend- 
ers, if they wished to prevent serious consequences to all 
concerned, must submit themselves to the faculty and take 
due punishment. Unfortunately, they were not manly 
enough to do this. Thereupon, to my own deep regret and 
in obedience to my sense of justice, I suspended indefi- 
nitely from the university the four officers of the class, 
its president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer. 
They were among the very best men in the class, all 
of them friends of my own; and I knew to a certainty 
that they had had nothing directly to do with the articles 
concerned, that the utmost which could be said against 
them was that they had been careless as to what appeared 
in the programme, for which they were responsible. Most 
bitter feeling arose, and I summoned a meeting of the en- 
tire student body. As I entered the room hisses were 
heard; the time had evidently come for a grapple with 
the whole body. I stated the case as it was : that the four 
officers would be suspended and must leave the university 
town until their return was allowed by the faculty; that 
such an offense against decency could not be condoned ; 



THE FIRST YEARS OF CORNELL- 18G8 -1870 351 

that I had understood that the entire class proposed to 
make common cause with their officers and leave the uni- 
versity with them; that to this we interposed no objection ; 
that it simply meant less work for the faculty during the 
remainder of the year; that it was far more important 
for the university to maintain a character for decency and 
good discipline than to have a large body of students ; and 
that, if necessary to maintain such a character, we would 
certainly allow the whole student body in all the classes to 
go home and would begin anew. I then drew a picture. 
I sketched a member of the class who had left the univer- 
sity on account of this discipline entering the paternal 
door, encountering a question as to the cause of his unex- 
pected home-coming, and replying that the cause was the 
outrageous tyranny of the president and faculty. I pic- 
tured, then, the father and mother of the home-coming 
student asking what the cause or pretext of this ' ' tyranny ' ' 
was, and I then said : ' ' I defy any one of you to show your 
father and mother the 'mock programme' which has 
caused the trouble. There is not one of you here who dares 
do it ; there is not one of you who would not be turned out 
of his father's door if he were thus to insult his mother.'' 
At this there came a round of applause. I then expressed 
my personal regret that the penalty must fall upon four 
men whom I greatly respected; but fall it must unless 
the offenders were manly enough to give themselves 
up. The result was that at the close I was greeted with a 
round of applause; and immediately afterward the four 
officers came to me, acknowledged the justice of the disci- 
pline, and expressed the hope that their suspension might 
not go beyond that term. It did not : at the close of the 
term they were allowed to return; and from that day 
"mock programmes" of the sort concerned, which in many 
American colleges had been a chronic evil, never reap- 
peared at Cornell. The result of this action encouraged 
me greatly as to the reliance to be placed on the sense of 
justice in the great body of our students when directly 
and properly appealed to. 



352 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -IV 

Still another thing which I sought to promote was a 
reasonable devotion to athletics. My own experience as 
a member of a boating-club at Yale had shown me what 
could be done, and I think one of the best investments I 
ever made was in giving a racing-boat to the Cornell crew 
on Cayuga Lake. The fact that there were so many 
students trained sturdily in rural homes in the bracing 
air of western New York, who on every working-day of 
college life tramped up the University Hill, and on other 
days explored the neighboring hills and vales, gave us a 
body of men sure to do well as athletes. At their first 
contest with the other universities on the Connecticut 
River at Springfield they were beaten, but they took their 
defeat manfully. Some time after this, General Grant, 
then President of the United States, on his visit to the 
university, remarked to me that he saw the race at Spring- 
field ; that our young men ought to have won it ; and that, 
in his opinion, they would have won it if they had not 
been unfortunately placed in shallow water, where there 
were eddies making against them. This remark struck 
me forcibly, coming as it did from one who had so keen a 
judgment in every sort of contest. I bore it in mind, and 
was not surprised when, a year or two later (1875), the 
Cornell crews, having met at Saratoga Lake the crews 
from Harvard, Yale, and other leading universities, won 
both the freshman and university races. It was humor- 
ously charged against me that when the news of this 
reached Ithaca I rang the university bells. This was not 
the fact. The simple truth was that, being in the midst 
of a body of students when the news came, and seeing them 
rush toward the bell-tower, I went with them to prevent 
injury to the bells by careless ringing; the ringing was 
done by them. I will not deny that the victory pleased me, 
as many others since gained by the Cornell crews have 
done; but far more to me than the victory itself was a 
letter written me by a prominent graduate of Princeton 
who was at Saratoga during the contest. He wrote me, as 
he said, not merely to congratulate me on the victory, but 



THE FIRST YEARS OF CORNELL -1868 -1870 353 

on the fine way in which our students took it, and the manly 
qualities which they showed in the hour of triumph and 
during their whole stay at Saratoga. This gave me cour- 
age. From that day I have never felt any fears as to the 
character of the student body. One leading cause of the 
success of Cornell University, in the midst of all its trials 
and struggles, has been the character of its students: 
working as they do under a system which gives them an 
interest in the studies they are pursuing, they have used 
the large liberty granted them in a way worthy of all 
praise. 

Nor is this happy change seen at Cornell alone. The 
same causes,— mainly the increase in the range of studies 
and freedom of choice between them, have produced simi- 
lar results in all the leading institutions. Recalling the 
student brawl at the Harvard commons which cost the 
historian Prescott his sight, and the riot at the Harvard 
commencement which blocked the way of President Ever- 
ett and the British minister ; recalling the fatal wounding 
of Tutor Dwight, the maiming of Tutor Goodrich, and 
the killing of two town rioters by students at Yale; and 
recalling the monstrous indignities to the president and 
faculty at Hobart of which I was myself witness, as well 
as the state of things at various other colleges in my own 
college days, I can testify, as can so many others, to the vast 
improvement in the conduct and aims of American stu- 
dents during the latter half of the nineteenth century. 



I.— 23 



CHAPTER XXI 

DIFFICULTIES AND DANGERS AT CORNELL — 1868 -1872 

THE first business after formally opening the univer- 
sity was to put in operation the various courses of 
instruction, and vitally connected with these were the lec- 
tures of our non-resident professors. From these I had 
hoped much and was not disappointed. It had long seemed 
to me that a great lack in our American universities was 
just that sort of impulse which non-resident professors 
or lecturers of a high order could give. At Yale there had 
been, in my time, very few lectures of any sort to under- 
graduates ; the work in the various classes was carried on, 
as a rule, without the slightest enthusiasm, and was con- 
sidered by the great body of students a bore to be abridged 
or avoided as far as possible. Hence such pranks as 
cutting out the tongue of the college bell, of which two or 
three tongues still preserved in university club-rooms are 
reminders ; hence, also, the effort made by members of my 
own class to fill the college bell with cement, which would 
set in a short time, and make any call to morning prayers 
and recitations for a day or two impossible— a perform- 
ance which caused a long suspension of several of the best 
young fellows that ever lived, some of them good scholars, 
and all of them men who would have walked miles to at- 
tend a really inspiring lecture. 

And yet, one or two experiences showed me what might 
be done by arousing an interest in regular class work. 
Professor Thacher, the head of the department of Latin, 
who conducted my class through the "Germania" and 

354 



DANGERS AT CORNELL -18C8 -1872 355 

"Agricola" of Tacitus, was an excellent professor; but 
he yielded to the system then dominant at Yale, and the 
whole thing was but weary plodding. Hardly ever was 
there anything in the shape of explanation or comment; 
but at the end of his work with us he laid down the book, 
and gave us admirably the reasons why the study of 
Tacitus was of value, and why we might well recur to it 
in after years. Then came painfully into my mind the 
thought, "What a pity that he had not said this at the 
beginning of his instruction rather than at the end ! ' ' 

Still worse was it with some of the tutors, who took us 
through various classical works, but never with a particle 
of appreciation for them as literature or philosophy. I 
have told elsewhere how my classmate Smalley fought it 
out with one of these. No instruction from outside lec- 
tures was provided; but in my senior year there came to 
New Haven John Lord and George William Curtis, the 
former giving a course on modern history, the latter 
one upon recent literature, and both arousing my earnest 
interest in their subjects. It was in view of these experi- 
ences that in my "plan of organization" I dwelt espe- 
cially upon the value of non-resident professors in bring- 
ing to us fresh life from the outside, and in thus 
preventing a certain provincialism and woodenness which 
come when there are only resident professors, and these 
selected mainly from graduates of the institution itself. 

The result of the work done by our non-resident pro- 
fessors more than answered my expectations. The twenty 
lectures of Agassiz drew large numbers of our brightest 
young men, gave them higher insight into various prob- 
lems of natural science, and stimulated among many 
a zeal for special investigation. Thus resulted an enthu- 
siasm which developed out of our student body several 
scholars in natural science who have since taken rank 
among the foremost teachers and investigators in the 
United States. So, too, the lectures of Lowell on early 
literature and of Curtis on later literature aroused great 
interest among students of a more literary turn; while 



356 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -V 

those of Theodore Dwight on the Constitution of the 
United States and of Bayard Taylor upon German litera- 
ture awakened a large number of active minds to the 
beauties of these fields. The coming of Goldwin Smith 
was an especial help to us. He remained longer than the 
others ; in fact, he became for two or three years a resident 
professor, exercising, both in his lecture-room and out of 
it, a great influence upon the whole life of the university. 
At a later period, the coming of George W. Greene as 
lecturer on American history, of Edward A. Freeman, 
regius professor at Oxford, as a lecturer on European 
history, and of James Anthony Froude in the same field, 
aroused new interest. Some of our experiences with the 
two gentlemen last named were curious. Freeman was a 
rough diamond— in his fits of gout very rough indeed. At 
some of his lectures he appeared clad in a shooting- jacket 
and spoke sitting, his foot swathed to mitigate his suffer- 
ings. From New Haven came a characteristic story of 
him. He had been invited to attend an evening gathering, 
after one of his lectures, at the house of one of the profes- 
sors, perhaps the finest residence in the town. With 
the exception of himself, the gentlemen all arrived in 
evening dress; he appeared in a shooting-jacket. Pres- 
ently two professors arrived; and one of them, glancing 
through the rooms, and seeing Freeman thus attired, asked 
the other, ' ' What sort of a costume do you call that 1 ' ' The 
answer came instantly, "I don't know, unless it is the 
costume of a Saxon swineherd before the Conquest. ' ' In 
view of Freeman's studies on the Saxon and Norman 
periods and the famous toast of the dean of Wells, "In 
honor of Professor Freeman, who has done so much to 
reveal to us the rude manners of our ancestors, ' ' the Yale 
professor's answer seemed much to the point. 

The lectures of Froude were exceedingly interesting; 
but every day he began them with the words ' ' Ladies and 
gentlemen," in the most comical falsetto imaginable,— 
a sort of Lord Dundreary manner,— so that, sitting 
beside him, I always noticed a ripple of laughter run- 



DANGERS AT CORNELL— 1868-1872 357 

ning over the whole audience, which instantly disap- 
peared as he settled into his work. He had a way of 
giving color to his lectures by citing bits of humorous 
history. Thus it was that he threw a vivid light on the 
horrors of civil war in Ireland during the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries, when he gave the plea of an Irish 
chieftain on trial for high treason, one of the charges 
against him being that he had burned the Cathedral of 
Cashel. His plea was: "Me lords, I niver would have 
burned the cathaydral but that I supposed that his grace 
the lord archbishop was inside." 

Speaking of the strength of the clan spirit, he told me a 
story of the late Duke of Argyll, as follows : At a banquet 
of the great clan of which the duke was chief, a splendid 
snuff-box belonging to one of the clansmen, having at- 
tracted attention, was passed round the long table for in- 
spection. By and by it was missing. All attempts to trace it 
were in vain, and the party broke up in disgust and distress 
at the thought that one of their number must be a thief. 
Some days afterward, the duke, putting on his dress-coat, 
found the box in his pocket, and immediately sent for the 
owner and explained the matter. ' ' I knew ye had it, ' ' said 
the owner. ' ' How did ye know it ! ' ' said the duke. ' ' Saw 
ye tak' it." "Then why did n't ye tell me?" asked the 
duke. ' ' I thocht ye wanted it, ' ' was the answer. 

Speaking of university life, Froude told the story of an 
Oxford undergraduate who, on being examined in Paley, 
was asked to name any instance which he had himself no- 
ticed of the goodness and forethought of the Almighty as 
evidenced in his works : to which the young man answered, 
"The formation of the head of a bulldog. Its nose is so 
drawn back that it can hang on the bull and yet breathe 
freely; but for this, the bulldog would soon have to let 
go for want of breath." 

Walking one day with Froude, I spoke to him regarding 
his "Nemesis of Faith," which I had read during my at- 
tacheship at St. Petersburg, and which had been greatly 
objected to by various Oxford dons, one of whom is said to 



358 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-V 

have burned a copy of it publicly in one of the college 
quadrangles. He seemed somewhat dismayed at my ques- 
tion, and said, in a nervous sort of way, "That was a 
young man's book— a young man's folly," and passed 
rapidly to other subjects. 

From the stimulus given by the non-resident professors 
the resident faculty reaped much advantage. It might 
well be said that the former shook the bush and the latter 
caught the birds. What is most truthfully stated on the 
tablet to Professor Agassiz in the Cornell Memorial Chapel 
of the university might, in great part, be said of all the 
others. It runs as follows: 

"To the memory of Louis Agassiz, LL.D. In the midst 
of great labors for science, throughout the world, he 
aided in laying the foundations of instruction at Cornell 
University, and, by his teachings here, gave an impulse to 
scientific studies, which remains a precious heritage. The 
trustees, in gratitude for his counsels and teachings, erect 
this memorial. 1884." 

An incidental benefit of the system was its happy in- 
fluence upon the resident professors. Coming from 
abroad, and of recognized high position, the non-residents 
brought a very happy element to our social life. No vet- 
eran of our faculty is likely to forget the charm they 
diffused among us. To meet Agassiz socially was a de- 
light ; nor was it less a pleasure to sit at table with Lowell 
or Curtis. Of the many good stories told us by Lowell, I 
remember one especially. During a stay in Paris he dined 
with Sainte-Beuve, and took occasion to ask that most 
eminent of French critics which he thought the greater 
poet, Lamartine or Victor Hugo. Sainte-Beuve, shrug- 
ging his shoulders, replied: "Eh bien, charlatan pour 
charlatan, je prefere Lamartine. ' ' This provoked another 
story, which was that, being asked by an American 
professor whether in his opinion the Empire of Napo- 
leon III was likely to endure, Sainte-Beuve, who was a 
salaried senator of the Empire, answered with a shrug, 
J 'Monsieur, je suis paye pour le croire." Agassiz also 



DANGERS AT CORNELL -1868 -1872 359 

interested me by showing me the friendly, confidential, and 
familiar letters which he was then constantly receiving 
from the Emperor of Brazil, Dom Pedro— letters in which 
not only matters of science but of contemporary history 
were discussed. Bayard Taylor also delighted us all. No- 
thing could exceed, as a provocative to mirth, his recita- 
tions of sundry poems whose inspiration was inferior to 
their ambition. One especially brought down the house— 
1 'The Eonx of Ruby," by a poet who had read Poe and 
Browning until he never hesitated to coin any word, no 
matter how nonsensical, which seemed likely to help his 
jingle. In many respects the most charming of all the new- 
comers was Goldwin Smith, whose stories, observations, 
reflections, deeply suggestive, humorous, and witty, were 
especially grateful at the close of days full of work and 
care. His fund of anecdotes was large. One of them illus- 
trated the fact that even those who are best acquainted 
with a language not their own are in constant danger of 
making themselves ridiculous in using it. The Due d'Au- 
male, who had lived long in England, and was supposed 
to speak English like an Englishman, presiding at a dinner 
of the British Association for the Advancement of Sci- 
ence, gave a toast as follows : ' ' De tree of science, may it 
shed down pease upon de nations." 

Another story related to Sir Allan MacNab, who, while 
commander of the forces in Canada, having received a 
card inscribed, "The MacNab," immediately returned the 
call, and left a card on which was inscribed, "The other 
MacNab." 

As I revise these lines, thirty-six years after his first 
coming, he is visiting me again to lay the corner-stone of 
the noble building which is to commemorate his services 
to Cornell. Though past his eightieth year, his memory 
constantly brings up new reminiscences. One of these I 
cannot forbear giving. He was at a party given by Lady 
Ashburton when Thomas Carlyle was present. During 
the evening, which was beautiful, the guests went out upon 
the lawn, and gazed at the starry heavens. All seemed 



360 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-V 

especially impressed by the beauty of the moon, which 
was at the full, when Carlyle, fastening his eyes upon it, 
was heard to croak out, solemnly and bitterly, ' ' Puir auld 

creetur ! ' ' 

The instruction of the university was at that time divided 
between sundry general courses and various technical 
departments, the whole being somewhat tentative. These 
general courses were mainly three: the arts course, 
which embraced both Latin and Greek; the course in 
literature, which embraced Latin and modern languages ; 
and the course in science, which embraced more especially 
modern languages in connection with a somewhat extended 
range of scientific studies. Of these general divisions the 
one most in danger of shipwreck seemed to be the first. 
It had been provided for in the congressional act of 
1862, evidently by an afterthought, and it was generally 
felt that if, in the storms besetting us, anything must be 
thrown overboard, it would be this; but an opportunity 
now arose for clenching it into our system. There was 
offered for sale the library of Professor Charles Anthon 
of Columbia, probably the largest and best collection 
in classical philology which had then been brought to- 
gether in the United States. Discussing the situation 
with Mr. Cornell, I showed him the danger of restrict- 
ing the institution to purely scientific and technical stud- 
ies, and of thus departing from the university ideal. 
He saw the point, and purchased the Anthon library for 
us. Thenceforth it was felt that, with such a means of 
instruction, from such a source, the classical department 
must stand firm ; that it must on no account be sacrificed ; 
that, by accepting this gift, we had pledged ourselves to 
maintain it. 

Yet, curiously, one of the most bitter charges constantly 
reiterated against us was that we were depreciating 
the study of ancient classical literature. Again and 
again it was repeated, especially in a leading daily jour- 
nal of the metropolis under the influence of a sectarian 
college, that I was "degrading classical studies." No- 



DANGERS AT CORNELL-1868-1872 3G1 

thing could be more unjust; I had greatly enjoyed such 
studies myself, had found pleasure in them since my 
graduation, and had steadily urged them upon those who 
had taste or capacity for them. But, as a student and as a 
university instructor, I had noticed two things in point, 
as many other observers had done: the first of these was 
that very many youths who go through their Latin and 
Greek Readers, and possibly one or two minor authors be- 
sides, exhaust the disciplinary value of such studies, and 
thenceforward pursue them listlessly and perfunctorily, 
merely droning over them. On their account it seemed cer- 
tainly far better to present some other courses of study in 
which they could take an interest. As a matter of fact, I 
constantly found that many young men who had been do- 
ing half-way mental labor, which is perhaps worse than 
none, were at once brightened and strengthened by devot- 
ing themselves to other studies more in accordance with 
their tastes and aims. 

But a second and very important point was that, in 
the two colleges of which I had been an undergraduate, 
classical studies were really hampered and discredited 
by the fact that the minority of students who loved 
them were constantly held back by a majority who dis- 
liked them; and I came to the conclusion that the true 
way to promote such studies in the United States was 
to take off this drag as much as possible, by present- 
ing other courses of studies which would attract those who 
had no taste for Latin and Greek, thus leaving those who 
had a taste for them free to carry them much farther than 
had been customary in American universities up to that 
time. My expectations in this respect were fully met. A 
few years after the opening of the university, contests 
were arranged between several of the leading colleges and 
universities, the main subjects in the competition being 
Latin, Greek, and mathematics; and to the confusion of 
the gainsayers, Cornell took more first prizes in these 
subjects than did all the older competing institutions to- 
gether. Thenceforward the talk of our "degrading clas- 



362 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-V 

sical studies" was less serious. The history of such stud- 
ies at Cornell since that time has fully justified the policy 
then pursued. Every competent observer will, I feel sure, 
say that at no other American institution have these 
studies been pursued with more earnestness or with better 
results. The Museum of Classical Archaeology, which has 
since been founded by the generous gift of Mr. Sage, has 
stimulated an increased interest in them; and graduates 
of Cornell are now exercising a wide influence in classical 
teaching: any one adequately acquainted with the history 
of American education knows what the influence of Cor- 
nell has been in bettering classical instruction throughout 
the State of New York. There has been another incidental 
gain. Among the melancholy things of college life in the 
old days was the relation of students to classical profes- 
sors. The majority of the average class looked on such 
a professor as generally a bore and, as examinations ap- 
proached, an enemy ; they usually sneered at him as a ped- 
ant, and frequently made his peculiarities a subject for de- 
rision. Since that day far better relations have grown up 
between teachers and taught, especially in those institutions 
where much is left to the option of the students. The stu- 
dents in each subject, being those who are really interested 
in it, as a rule admire and love their professor, and what- 
ever little peculiarities he may have are to them but pleas- 
ing accompaniments of his deeper qualities. This is a per- 
fectly simple and natural result, which will be understood 
fully by any one who has observed human nature to much 
purpose. 

Besides this course in arts, in which classical studies 
were especially prominent, there were established courses 
in science, in literature, and in philosophy, differing from 
each other mainly in the proportion observed between 
ancient languages, modern languages, and studies in vari- 
ous sciences and other departments of thought. Each of 
these courses was laid down with much exactness for the 
first two years, with large opportunity for choice between 
subjects in the last two years. The system worked well, 



DANGERS AT CORNELL -18G8 -1872 363 

and has, from time to time, been modified, as the improve- 
ment in the schools of the State, and other circumstances 
have required. 

In proposing these courses I was much influenced by 
an idea broached in Herbert Spencer's ''Treatise on Edu- 
cation." This idea was given in his discussion of the 
comparative values of different studies, when he arrived 
at the conclusion that a subject which ought to be among 
those taught at the beginning of every course is human 
physiology,— that is to say, an account of the structure, 
functions, and proper management of the human body, on 
which so much depends for every human being. It seemed 
to me that not only was there great force in Spencer's 
argument, but that there was an additional reason for 
placing physiology among the early studies of most of 
the courses; and this was that it formed a very good 
beginning for scientific study in general. An observation 
of my own strengthened me in this view. I remembered 
that, during my school life, while my tastes were in the 
direction of classical and historical studies, the weekly 
visits to the school by the surgeon who lectured upon the 
human eye, ear, and sundry other organs, using models 
and preparations, interested me intensely, and were a real 
relief from other studies. There was still another reason. 
For the professorship in this department Professor Agas- 
siz had recommended to me Dr. Burt Wilder ; and I soon 
found him, as Agassiz had foretold, not only a thorough 
investigator, but an admirable teacher. His lectures were 
not read, but were, as regards phrasing, extemporaneous ; 
and it seemed to me that, mingled with other studies, a 
course of lectures given in so good a style, by so gifted a 
man, could not fail to be of great use in teaching our 
students, incidentally, the best way of using the English 
language in communicating their ideas to their fellow- 
men. I had long deplored the rhetorical fustian and ora- 
torical tall-talk which so greatly afflict our country, and 
which had been, to a considerable extent, cultivated in our 
colleges and universities; I determined to try, at least, 



364 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-V 

to substitute for it clean, clear, straightforward statement 
and illustration ; and it seemed to me that a course of lec- 
tures on a subject which admitted neither fustian nor 
tall-talk, by a clear-headed, clear-voiced, earnest, and hon- 
est man, was the best thing in the world for this purpose. 
So was adopted the plan of beginning most courses with 
an extended course of lectures upon human physiology, in 
which to real practice in investigation by the class is added 
the hearing of a first-rate lecturer. 

As regards the course in literature, I determined that 
use should be made of this to promote the general culture 
of students, as had been done up to that time by very 
few of our American universities. At Yale in my day, 
there was never even a single lecture on any subject 
in literature, either ancient or modern: everything was 
done by means of " recitations " from text-books; and 
while young men read portions of masterpieces in Greek 
and Latin, their attention was hardly ever directed to 
these as literature. As regards the great fields of modern 
literature, nothing whatever was done. In the English 
literature and language, every man was left entirely to his 
own devices. One of the first professors I called to Cor- 
nell was Hiram Corson, who took charge of the department 
of English literature; and from that day to this he has 
been a center from which good culture has radiated among 
our students. Professor H. B. Sprague was also called; 
and he also did excellent work, though in a different way. 
I also added non-resident professors. My original scheme 
I still think a good one. It was to call James Russell Lowell 
for early English literature, Bishop Arthur Cleveland 
Coxe for the literature of the Elizabethan and Jacobean 
periods, Edwin Whipple for the literature of Queen 
Anne's time, and George William Curtis for recent and 
contemporary literature. Each of these men was admir- 
able as a scholar and lecturer in the particular field named ; 
but the restricted means of the university obliged me to 
cut the scheme down, so that it included simply Lowell 
for early and Curtis for recent literature. Other lectures 



DANGERS AT CORNELL-1868-1872 3G5 

in connection with the instruction of the resident profes- 
sors marked an epoch, and did much to remove anything 
like Philistinism from the student body. Bayard Taylor's 
lectures in German literature thus supplemented admir- 
ably the excellent work of the resident professors Hewett 
and Horatio White. To remove still further any danger of 
Philistinism, I called an eminent graduate of Harvard,— 
Charles Chauncey Shackford,— whose general lectures in 
various fields of literature were attractive and useful. In 
all this I was mainly influenced by the desire to prevent 
the atmosphere of the university becoming simply and 
purely that of a scientific and technical school. Highly as 
I prized the scientific spirit and technical training, I 
felt that the frame of mind engendered by them should be 
modified by an acquaintance with the best literature as 
literature. There were many evidences that my theory 
was correct. Some of our best students in the technical 
departments developed great love for literary studies. 
One of them attracted much attention by the literary ex- 
cellence of his writings ; and on my speaking to him about 
it, and saying that it seemed strange to me that a man 
devoted to engineering should show such a taste for liter- 
ature, he said that there was no greater delight to him 
than passing from one of the studies to the other— that 
each was a recreation after the other. 

The effort to promote that element in the general culture 
of the student body which comes from literature, ancient 
and modern, gained especial strength from a source 
usually unpromising— the mathematical department. 
Two professors highly gifted in this field exercised a wide 
and ennobling influence outside it. First of these was 
Evan William Evans, who had been known to me at Yale 
as not only one of the best scholars in the class of 1851, 
but also one of its two foremost writers. Later, he devel- 
oped a passion for modern literature, and his influence 
was strongly felt in behalf of the humanities. His suc- 
cessor was James Edward Oliver, a graduate of Harvard, 
a genius in his chosen field, but always exercising a large 



366 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-V 

influence by virtue of his broad, liberal, tolerant views of 
life which were promoted by study of the best thoughts of 
the best thinkers of all times. 

The work of organizing and developing the general 
courses was comparatively easy, and the stimulus given at 
the outset by the non-resident professors rendered it 
all the more so. But with the technical departments and 
special courses there were grave difficulties. The depart- 
ment of civil engineering, of course, went easily enough ; 
there were plenty of precedents for it, and the admirable 
professor first elected was, at his death, succeeded by an- 
other who most vigorously and wisely developed it : Este- 
van Fuertes, drawn from the most attractive surroundings 
in the island of Porto Rico to the United States by a deep 
love of science, and retained here during the rest of his 
life by a love, no less sincere, for American liberty— a rare 
combination of the virtues and capabilities of the Latin 
races with the best results of an American environment. I 
may mention, in passing, that this combination came out 
curiously in his views of American citizenship. He was 
wont to marvel at the indifference of the average Ameri- 
can to his privileges and duties, and especially at the lack 
of a proper estimate of his function at elections. I have 
heard him say: ''When I vote, I put on my best clothes 
and my top hat, go to the polls, salute the officers, take off 
my hat, and cast my ballot." 

It may be worth mentioning here that, at the election of 
the first professor in this department, a curious question 
arose. Among the candidates was one from Harvard, 
whose testimonials showed him to be an admirable ac- 
quisition ; and among these testimonials was one from an 
eminent bishop, who spoke in high terms of the scientific 
qualifications of the candidate, but added that he felt it 
his duty to warn me that the young man was a Unitarian. 
At this I wrote the bishop, thanking him, and saying that 
the only question with me was as to the moral and intel- 
lectual qualifications of the candidate; and that if these 
were superior to those of other candidates, I would nomi- 



DANGERS AT CORNELL- 18G8 -1872 367 

nate him to the trustees even if he were a Buddhist. The 
good bishop at first took some offense at this ; and, in one 
of the communications which ensued, expressed doubts 
whether laymen had any right to teach at all, since the 
command to teach was given to the apostles and their 
successors, and seemed therefore confined to those who had 
received holy orders; but he became most friendly later, 
and I look back to my meetings with him afterward as 
among the delightful episodes of my life. 

The technical department which caused me the most 
anxiety was that of agriculture. It had been given the 
most prominent place in the Congressional act of 1862, 
and in our charter from the State in 1865. But how 
should agriculture be taught; what proportion should we 
observe between theory and practice ; and what should the 
practice be? These questions elicited all sorts of answers. 
Some eminent agriculturists insisted that the farm should 
be conducted purely as a business operation ; others that 
it should be a "model farm"— regardless of balance 
sheets ; others still that it should be wholly experimental. 
Our decision was to combine what was best in all these 
views; and several men attempted this as resident pro- 
fessors, but with small success. One day, after a series of 
such failures, when we were almost desperate, there ap- 
peared a candidate from an agricultural college in Ireland. 
He bore a letter from an eminent clergyman in New York, 
was of pleasing appearance and manners, gave glowing 
accounts of the courses he had followed, expatiated on the 
means by which farming had been carried to a high point 
in Scotland, and ventured suggestions as to what might 
be done in America. I had many misgivings. His ex- 
perience was very remote from ours, and he seemed to 
me altogether too elegant for the work in hand; but Mr. 
Cornell had visited English farms, was greatly impressed 
by their excellence, and urged a trial of the new-comer. 
He was duly called ; and, that he might begin his courses 
of instruction, an order was given for a considerable col- 
lection of English agricultural implements and for the 



368 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -V 

erection of new farm-buildings after English patterns, 
Mr. Cornell generously advancing the required money. 

All this took time— much time. At first great things 
were expected by the farmers of the State, but gradually 
their confidence waned. As they saw the new professor 
walking over the farm in a dilettantish way, superin- 
tending operations with gloved hands, and never touching 
any implement, doubts arose which soon ripened into 
skepticism. Typical were the utterances of our farm man- 
ager. He was a plain, practical farmer, who had taken the 
first prize of the State Agricultural Society for the excel- 
lence of his own farm; and, though he at first indulged 
in high hopes regarding the new professor, he soon had 
misgivings, and felt it his duty to warn me. He said: 
"Yew kin depend on 't, he ain't a-goin' to do nothin'; he 
don't know nothin' about corn, and he don't want to 
know nothin' about corn; and he don't believe in pun- 
kins! Depend on 't, as soon as his new barn is finished 
and all his new British tackle is brought together, he '11 
quit the job." I reasoned that, to a farmer brought up 
among the glorious fields of Indian corn in western New 
York, and accustomed to rejoice in the sight of golden 
pumpkins, diffusion of other cultures must seem like trea- 
son ; but, alas ! he was right. As soon as the new buildings 
and arrangements were ready for our trial of British sci- 
entific agriculture, the young foreign professor notified 
me that he had accepted the headship of an agricultural 
college in Canada. Still, he met with no greater success 
there than with us ; nor was his reputation increased when, 
after the foul attacks made upon Mr. Cornell in the legis- 
lature, he volunteered to come to the investigation and 
testify that Mr. Cornell was "not a practical man." In 
this the career of the young agriculturist culminated. 
Having lost his professorship in Canada, he undertook 
the management of a grocery in the oil-regions of west- 
ern Pennsylvania; and scientific British agriculture still 
awaits among us a special representative. Happily, since 
that day, men trained practically in the agriculture of the 



DANGERS AT CORNELL- 1868 -1872 369 

United States have studied the best British methods, and 
brought us much that has been of real use. 

Fortunately I had found three men who enabled us to 
tide our agricultural department over those dark days, in 
which we seemed to be playing "Hamlet" with Hamlet 
left out. The first of these was the Hon. John Stanton 
Gould, whom I called as a lecturer upon agriculture. He 
had been president of the State Agricultural Society, and 
was eminent, not only for his knowledge of his subject, 
but for his power of making it interesting. Men came 
away from Mr. Gould's lectures filled with intense desire 
to get hold of a spade or hoe and to begin turning the soil. 

So, also, the steady work of Professor George C. Cald- 
well, whom I had called from the State College of Pennsyl- 
vania to take charge of the department of agricultural 
chemistry, won the respect of all leaders in agriculture 
throughout the State, and, indeed, throughout the coun- 
try. And with especial gratitude should be named Dr. 
James Law of the British Royal Veterinary College, whom 
I had found in London, and called to our veterinary 
professorship. Never was there a more happy selection. 
From that day to this, thirty-six years, he has been a 
tower of strength to the university, and has rendered in- 
calculable services to the State and Nation. His quiet, 
thorough work impressed every one most favorably. The 
rudest of the surrounding farmers learned more and more 
to regard him with respect and admiration, and the State 
has recently recognized his services by establishing in 
connection with the university a State veterinary college 
under his control. 

The work of these three men saved us. Apart from it, 
the agricultural department long remained a sort of slough 
of despond ; but at last a brighter day dawned. From the 
far-off State Agricultural College of Iowa came tidings 
of a professor— Mr. J. I. P. Roberts— who united the prac- 
tical and theoretical qualities desired. I secured him, and 
thenceforward there was no more difficulty. For more 
than twenty years, as professor and lecturer, he has 

I.-24 



370 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -V 

largely aided in developing agriculture throughout the 
State and country; and when others were added to 
him, like Comstock and Bailey, the success of the de- 
partment became even more brilliant. Still, its old 
reputation lasted for a time, even after a better era had 
been fully ushered in. About a year after the tide had 
thus turned a meeting of the State ''Grange" was held 
at the neighboring city of Elmira ; and the leading speak- 
ers made the university and its agricultural college an 
object of scoffing which culminated in a resolution de- 
nouncing both, and urging the legislature to revoke our 
charter. At this a bright young graduate of Cornell, an 
instructor in the agricultural department, who happened 
to be present, stood up manfully, put a few pertinent ques- 
tions, found that none of the declaimers had visited the 
university, declared that they were false to their duty in 
not doing so, protested against their condemning the in- 
stitution unheard and unseen, and then and there invited 
them all to visit the institution and its agricultural depart- 
ment without delay. Next day this whole body of farmers, 
with their wives, sons, and daughters, were upon us. 
Everything was shown them. Knowing next to nothing 
about modern appliances for instruction in science and 
technology, they were amazed at all they saw; the libraries, 
the laboratories, and, above all, the natural-science collec- 
tions and models greatly impressed them. They were taken 
everywhere, and shown not only our successes but our 
failures; nothing was concealed from them, and, as a re- 
sult, though they "came to scoff," they "remained to 
pray. ' ' They called a new session of their body, pledged 
to us their support, and passed resolutions commending 
our work and condemning the State legislature for not 
doing more in our behalf. That was the turning-point for 
the agricultural department; and from that day to this 
the legislature has dealt generously with us, and the in- 
fluence of the department for good throughout the State 
has been more and more widely acknowledged. 
Of the two technical departments referred to in the origi- 



DANGERS AT CORNELL- 1868-1872 371 

nal act of Congress, the second— specified under the vague 
name of "Mechanic Arts"— went better, though there was 
at first much groping to find just what ought to be done. 
First of all, there was a danger which demanded delicate 
handling. This danger lay in Mr. Cornell's wish to estab- 
lish, in vital connection with the university, great factories 
for the production of articles for sale, especially chairs 
and shoes, thus giving large bodies of students opportuni- 
ties for self-support. In discussing this matter with him, 
I pointed to the fact that, in becoming a manufacturing 
corporation we were making a business venture never con- 
templated by our charter; that it was exceedingly doubtful 
whether such a corporation could be combined with an 
educational institution without ruining both ; that the men 
best fitted to manage a great factory were hardly likely 
to be the best managers of a great institution of learning ; 
that under our charter we had duties, not merely to those 
who wished to support themselves by labor, but to others ; 
and I finally pointed out to him many reasons for holding 
that such a scheme contravened the act of Congress and 
the legislation of the State. I insisted that the object of 
our charters from the State and Nation was not to enable 
a great number of young men to secure an elementary 
education while making shoes and chairs; that for these 
the public schools were provided; that our main purpose 
must be to send out into all parts of the State and Nation 
thoroughly trained graduates, who should develop and 
improve the main industries of the country, and, by their 
knowledge and example, train up skilful artisans of 
various sorts and in every locality. Mr. Cornell's con- 
duct in this matter was admirable. Tenacious as he 
usually was when his opinion was formed, and much as it 
must have cost him to give up what had become a darling 
project, he yielded to this view. 

New questions now opened as to this "Department of 
Mechanic Arts." It was clear to me, from what I had 
seen abroad, that not all the models I had sent from 
Europe would be sufficient to give the practical character 



372 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-V 

which such a department needed ; that its graduates must 
have a direct, practical acquaintance with the construction 
and use of machinery before they could become leaders in 
great mechanical enterprises ; that they must be made, not 
only mathematicians and draftsmen, but skilled work- 
men, practically trained in the best methods and processes. 
A very shrewd artisan said to me: "When a young me- 
chanical engineer comes among us fresh from college, only 
able to make figures and pictures, we rarely have much 
respect for him: the trouble with the great majority 
of those who come from technical institutions is that 
they don't know as much about practical methods and 
processes as we know. ' ' 

I felt that there was truth in this, but, as things were, 
hardly dared tell this to the trustees. It would have scared 
them, for it seemed to open the door to great expenditures 
demanded by a mere theory; but I laid my views before 
Mr. Cornell, and he agreed with me so far as to send to 
us from his agricultural works at Albany sundry large 
pieces of old machinery, which he thought might be re- 
built for our purposes. But this turned out to be hardly 
practicable. I dared not, at that stage of the proceedings, 
bring into the board of trustees a proposal to buy machin- 
ery and establish a machine-shop ; the whole would have a 
chimerical look, and was sure to repel them. Therefore it 
was that, at my own expense, I bought a power-lathe and 
other pieces of machinery ; and, through the active efforts 
of Professor John L. Morris, my steadfast supporter in 
the whole matter, these were set up in our temporary 
wooden laboratory. A few students began using them, and 
to good purpose. Mr. Cornell was greatly pleased. Other 
trustees of a practical turn visited the place, and the result 
was that opinion in the governing board soon favored a 
large practical equipment for the department. 

On this I prepared a report, taking up the whole subject 
with great care, and brought it before them, my main 
suggestion being that a practical beginning of the depart- 
ment should be made by the erection and equipment of a 



DANGERS AT CORNELL -1868 -1872 373 

small building on the north side of the university grounds, 
near our main water-power. Then came a piece of great 
good fortune. Among the charter trustees of the univer- 
sity was Mr. Cornell's old friend and associate in tele- 
graphic enterprise, Hiram Sibley of Rochester ; and at the 
close of the meeting Mr. Sibley asked me if I could give 
him a little time on the university grounds after the ad- 
journment of the meeting. I, of course, assented; and 
next morning, on our visiting the grounds together, he 
asked me to point out the spot where the proposed college 
of mechanic arts might best be placed. On my doing so, he 
looked over the ground carefully, and then said that he 
would himself erect and equip the building. So began 
Sibley College, which is to-day, probably, all things con- 
sidered, the most successful department of this kind in 
our own country, and perhaps in any country. In the 
hands, first of Professors Morris and Sweet, and later 
under the direction of Dr. Thurston, it has become of 
the greatest value to every part of the United States, and 
indeed to other parts of the American continent. 

At the outset a question arose, seemingly trivial, but 
really serious. Mr. Sibley had gone far beyond his origi- 
nal proposals; and when the lecture-rooms, drafting- 
rooms, modeling-rooms, foundries, shops for ironwork, 
woodwork, and the like, had been finished, the question 
came up: Shall our aim be to produce things having a 
pecuniary value, or shall we produce simply samples of 
the most highly finished workmanship, having, generally, 
no value? Fortunately, Professors Morris and Sweet were 
able to combine both these purposes, and to employ a 
considerable number of students in the very best of work 
which had a market value. The whole thing was thereby 
made a success, but it waited long for recognition. A re- 
sult followed not unlike some which have occurred in 
other fields in our country. At the Centennial Exhibition 
of 1876, an exhibit was made of the work done by students 
in Sibley College, including a steam-engine, power-lathes, 
face-plates, and various tools of precision, admirably fin- 



374 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-V 

ished, each a model in its kind. But while many mechanics 
praised them, they attracted no special attention from 
New England authorities. On the other hand, an exhibit 
of samples of work from the School of Technology of 
Moscow, which had no merchantable value,— many of the 
pieces being of antiquated pattern, but of exquisite finish 
and showily arranged,— aroused great admiration among 
sundry New England theorists ; even the head of the Mas- 
sachusetts Institute of Technology, in enthusiastic maga- 
zine articles, called the attention of the whole country to 
them, and urged the necessity of establishing machine- 
shops in connection with schools of science. The fact that 
this had already been done, and better done, at Cornell, 
was loftily ignored. Western New York seemed a Naza- 
reth out of which no good could come. That same strain- 
ing of the mind's eye toward the East, that same tendency 
to provincialism which had so often afflicted Massachu- 
setts, evidently prevented her wise men in technology 
from recognizing any new departure west of them. 

At a later period I had occasion to make a final com- 
ment on all this. Both as commissioner at the Paris Ex- 
hibition and as minister to Russia, I came to know inti- 
mately Wischniegradsky, who had been the head of the 
Moscow School of Technology and afterward Russian 
minister of finance. He spoke to me in the highest terms 
of what original American methods had done for rail- 
ways; and the climax was reached when the Moscow 
methods, so highly praised by Boston critics, proved to be 
utterly inadequate in training mechanical engineers to 
furnish the machinery needed in Russia, and men from 
the American schools, trained in the methods of Cornell, 
sent over locomotives and machinery of all sorts for the 
new Trans-Siberian Railway, of which the eastern termi- 
nus was that very city of Moscow which enjoyed the 
privileges so lauded and magnified by the Boston critics ! 
Time has reversed their judgment : the combination of the 
two systems, so ably and patiently developed by Director 
Thurston, is the one which has happily prevailed. 



DANGERS AT CORNELL -18G8 -1872 375 

Few days in the history of Cornell University have 
been so fraught with good as that on which Thurston ac- 
cepted my call to the headship of Sibley College. At the 
very outset he gained the confidence and gratitude of trus- 
tees, professors, students, and, indeed, of his profession 
throughout the country, by his amazing success as pro- 
fessor, as author, and as organizer and administrator 
of that department, which he made not only one of the 
largest, but one of the best of its kind in the world. The 
rapidity and wisdom of his decisions, the extent and ex- 
cellence of his work, his skill in attracting the best men, his 
ability in quieting rivalries and animosities, and the kindly 
firmness of his whole policy were a source of wonder to all 
who knew him. And, at his lamented death in 1903, it was 
found that he had rendered another service of a sort which 
such strong men as he are often incapable of rendering- 
he had trained a body of assistants and students worthy 
to take up his work. 

Another department which I had long wished to see 
established in our country now began to take shape. 
From my boyhood I had a love for architecture. In my 
young manhood this had been developed by readings in 
Ruskin, and later by architectural excursions in Europe; 
and the time had now arrived when it seemed possible 
to do something for it. I had collected what, at that 
period, was certainly one of the largest, if not the largest, 
of the architectural libraries in the United States, besides 
several thousand large architectural photographs, draw- 
ings, casts, models, and other material from every country 
in Europe. This had been, in fact, my pet extravagance ; 
and a propitious time seeming now to arrive, I proposed 
to the trustees that if they would establish a department 
of architecture and call a professor to it, I would transfer 
to it my special library and collections. This offer was 
accepted; and thus was founded this additional depart- 
ment, which began its good career under Professor Charles 
Babcock, who, at this present writing, is enjoying, as 
professor emeritus, the respect and gratitude of a long 



376 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-V 

series of classes which have profited by his teachings, and 
the cordial companionship of his colleagues, who rejoice 
to profit by his humorous, but none the less profound, ob- 
servations upon problems arising in the university and in 
the world in general. 

As regards this illustrative material, I recall one curi- 
ous experience. While on one of my architectural excur- 
sions through the great towns of eastern France, I ar- 
rived at Troyes. On visiting the government agent for 
photographing public monuments, I noticed in his rooms 
some admirably executed pieces of stone carving, — capi- 
tals, corbels, and the like,— and on my asking him whence 
these came, he told me that they had been recently taken 
out of the cathedral by the architect who was "restoring" 
it. After my purchases were made, he went with me to 
this great edifice, one of the finest in Europe; and there 
I found that, on each side of the high altar, the architect 
had taken out several brackets, or corbels, of the best me- 
diaeval work, and substituted new ones designed by him- 
self. One of these corbels thus taken out the government 
photographer had in his possession. It was very striking, 
representing the grotesque face of a monk in the midst of 
a mass of foliage supporting the base of a statue, all being 
carved with great spirit. Apart from its architectural 
value, it had a historical interest, since it must have wit- 
nessed the famous betrothal of the son and daughter of 
the English and French kings mentioned in Shakspere, 
to say nothing of many other mediaeval pageants. 

On my making known to the photographer the fact that 
I was engaged in founding a school of architecture in the 
United States, and was especially anxious to secure a good 
specimen of French work, he sold me this example, which 
is now in the museum of the Architectural Department at 
Cornell. I allude to this, in passing, as showing what mon- 
strous iniquities (and I could name many others) are 
committed in the great mediasval buildings of Europe 
under pretense of "restoration." 



CHAPTER XXII 

FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF UNIVERSITY COURSES- 1870-187- 

IN close connection with the technical departments were 
various laboratories. For these, place was at first 
made here and there in cellars and sheds; but at last we 
were able to erect for them buildings large and complete, 
and to the opening of the first of these came Mr. Cleve- 
land, then Governor of New York, and later President of 
the United States. Having laid the corner-stone of the 
Memorial Chapel and made an excellent speech, which 
encouraged us all, he accompanied me to the new building 
devoted to chemistry and physics, which was then opened 
for the first time. On entering it, he expressed his surprise 
at its equipment, and showed that he had seen nothing 
of the kind before. I learned afterward that he had re- 
ceived a thorough preparation in classics and mathematics 
for college, but that, on account of the insufficient means 
of his father, he was obliged to give up his university 
course; and it was evident, from his utterances at this 
time, as well as when visiting other colleges and univer- 
sities, that he lamented this. 

Out of this laboratory thus opened was developed, 
later, a new technical department. Among my happiest 
hours were those spent in visiting the various buildings, 
collections, and lecture-rooms, after my morning's work, 
to see how all were going on ; and, during various visits 
to the new laboratory I noticed that the majority of the 
students were, in one way or another, giving attention to 
matters connected with electricity. There had already 



378 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-VI 

been built in the machine-shops, under the direction of 
Professor Anthony, a dynamo which was used in light- 
ing our grounds, this being one of the first examples 
of electric lighting in the United States; and on one 
of my visits I said to him, "It looks much as if, with 
the rapid extension throughout the country of the tele- 
graph, telephone, electric lighting, and electric railways, 
we shall be called on, before long, to train men for 
a new profession in connection with them." As he 
assented to this, I asked him to sketch out a plan for 
a "Department of Electrical Engineering," and in due 
time he appeared with it before the executive committee 
of the trustees. But it met much opposition from one of 
our oldest members, who was constitutionally averse to 
what he thought new-fangled education, partly from con- 
servatism, partly from considerations of expense ; and this 
opposition was so threatening that, in order to save the 
proposed department, I was obliged to pledge myself to 
become responsible for any extra expense caused by it 
during the first year. Upon this pledge it was established. 
Thus was created, as I believe, the first department of 
electrical engineering ever known in the United States, 
and, so far as I can learn, the first ever known in any 
country. 

But while we thus strove to be loyal to those parts of 
our charter which established technical instruction, there 
were other parts in which I personally felt even a deeper 
interest. In my political reminiscences I have acknow- 
ledged the want of preparation in regard to practical 
matters of public concern which had hampered me as a 
member of the State Senate. Having revolved this sub- 
ject in my mind for a considerable time, I made, while 
commissioner to the Paris Exposition of 1878, a careful 
examination of the courses of study in political and eco- 
nomic science established in European universities, and 
on my return devoted to this subject my official report. 
Like such reports generally, it was delayed a long time 
in the Government Printing-office, was then damned with 



FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF CORNELL-1870-1872 379 

faint praise, and nothing more came of it until the follow- 
ing year, when, being called to deliver the annual address 
at the Johns Hopkins University, 1 wrought its main 
points into a plea for education in relation to politics. 
This was widely circulated with some effect, and I now 
brought a modest proposal in the premises before our 
trustees. Its main feature was that Mr. Prank B. San- 
born, a graduate of Harvard, Secretary of the Board of 
Charities of the State of Massachusetts and of the Social 
Science Association of the United States, should be called 
to give a course of practical lectures before the senior 
class during at least one term,— his subjects to be such as 
pauperism, crime (incipient and chronic), inebriety, lu- 
nacy, and the best dealing of modern states with these; 
also that his instructions should be given, not only by 
lectures, but by actual visits with his classes to the great 
charitable and penal institutions of the State, of which 
there were many within easy distance of the university. 
For several years, and until the department took a differ- 
ent form, this plan was carried out with excellent results. 
Professor Sanborn and his students, beginning with the 
county almshouse and jail, visited the reformatories, the 
prisons, the penitentiaries, and the asylums of various sorts 
in the State ; made careful examinations of them ; drew up 
reports upon them, these reports forming the subject of 
discussions in which professor and students took earnest 
part; and a number of young men who have since taken 
influential places in the State legislature were thus in- 
structed as to the best actual and possible dealings with all 
these subjects. I still think that more should be done in 
all our universities to train men by this method for the 
public service in this most important and interesting field, 
and also in matters pertaining generally to State, county, 
and city administration. 

Closely connected with this instruction was that in po- 
litical economy and history. As to the first of these, I 
had, some years before, seen reason to believe that my 
strong, and perhaps bigoted free-trade ideas were at least 



380 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -VI 

not so universal in their application as I had supposed. 
Down to the time of our Civil War I had been very intol- 
erant on this subject, practically holding a protectionist 
to be either a Pharisee or an idiot. I had convinced my- 
self not only that the principles of free trade are ax- 
iomatic, but that they afford the only means of binding 
nations together in permanent peace; that Great Britain 
was our best friend ; that, in desiring us to adopt her own 
system, she was moved by broad, philosophic, and philan- 
thropic considerations. But as the war drew on and I 
saw the haughtiness and selfishness toward us shown by 
her ruling classes, there came in my mind a revulsion 
which led me to examine more closely the foundations 
of my economical belief. I began to attribute more 
importance to John Stuart Mill's famous "exception," 
to the effect that the building up of certain industries 
may be necessary to the very existence of a nation, and 
that perhaps the best way of building them up is to 
adopt an adequate system of protective duties. Down 
to this time I had been a disciple of Adam Smith and 
Bastiat; but now appeared the published lectures of 
Roscher of Leipsic, upon what he called ' ' The Historical 
System ' ' of political economy. Its fundamental idea was 
that political economy is indeed a science, to be wrought 
out by scientific methods ; but that the question how far 
its conclusions are adapted to the circumstances of any 
nation at any time is for statesmen to determine. This 
impressed me much. Moreover, I was forced to acknow- 
ledge that the Morrill protective tariff, adopted at the 
Civil War period, was a necessity for revenue; so that 
my old theory of a tariff for revenue easily developed 
into a belief in a tariff for revenue with incidental pro- 
tection. This idea has been developed in my mind as time 
has gone on, until at present I am a believer in protection 
as the only road to ultimate free trade. My process of 
reasoning on the subject I have given in another chapter. 

At the opening of the university there was but little 
instruction in political economy, that little being mainly 



FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF CORNELL-1870-1872 381 

given by our professor of moral philosophy, Dr. Wilson, 
a man broad in his views and strong in reasoning power, 
who had been greatly impressed by the ideas of Friedrich 
List, the German protectionist. But lectures were also 
given by free-traders, and I adopted the plan of having 
both sides as well represented as possible. This was, at 
first, complained of; sundry good people said it was like 
calling a professor of atheism into a theological seminary ; 
but my answer was that our university was not, like a 
theological seminary, established to arrive at certain con- 
clusions fixed beforehand, or to propagate an established 
creed ; that, political economy not being an exact science, 
our best course was to call eminent lecturers to present 
both sides of the main questions in dispute. The result was 
good. It stimulated much thought, and doubtless did 
something to promote that charity to opposing economical 
opinions which in my own case had been, through my 
early manhood, so conspicuously lacking. 

The second of these departments— history— was the 
one for which I cared most. I believed then, and later 
experience has strengthened my conviction, that the best 
of all methods in presenting every subject bearing on po- 
litical and social life is the historical. My own studies 
had been mainly in this field, and I did what I could 
to establish historical courses in the university. The 
lectures which I had given at the University of Michigan 
were now developed more fully and again presented; but 
to these I constantly added new lectures and, indeed, new 
courses, though at a great disadvantage, since my admin- 
istrative duties stood constantly in the way of my pro- 
fessorial work. At the same time I went on collecting my 
historical library until it became, in its way, probably the 
largest and most complete of its kind in the possession of 
any individual in the United States. Gradually strong 
men were drawn into the department, and finally there 
came one on whom I could lay a large portion of the work. 

The story is somewhat curious. During the year 1877- 
1878, in Germany and France, I had prepared a short 



382 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -VI 

course of lectures upon the historical development of crim- 
inal law ; and while giving it to my senior class after my 
return, I noticed a student, two or three years below the 
average age of the class, carefully taking notes and ap- 
parently much interested. One day, going toward my 
house after the lecture, I found him going in the same 
direction, and, beginning conversation with him, learned 
that he was a member of the sophomore class ; that he had 
corresponded with me, two or three years before, as to the 
best means of working his way through the university; 
had followed out a suggestion of mine, then made, in that 
he had learned the printer 's trade ; had supported himself 
through the preparatory school by means of it, and was 
then carrying himself through college by setting type for 
the university press. Making inquiries of professors and 
students, I found that the young man, both at school and 
at the university, was, as a rule, at the head of every class 
he had entered; and therefore it was that, when the 
examination papers came in at the close of the term, I 
first took up his papers to see how he had stood the test. 
They proved to be masterly. There were excellent schol- 
ars in the senior class, but not one had done so well as this 
young sophomore ; in fact, I doubt whether I could have 
passed a better examination on my own lectures. There 
was in his answers a combination of accuracy with breadth 
which surprised me. Up to that time, passing judgment 
on the examination papers had been one of the most te- 
dious of my burdens; for it involved wading through 
several hundred pages of crabbed manuscript, every term, 
and weighing carefully the statements therein embodied. 
A sudden light now flashed upon me. I sent for the young 
sophomore, cautioned him to secrecy, and then and there 
made him my examiner in history. He, a member of the 
sophomore class, took the papers of the seniors and resi- 
dent graduates, and passed upon them carefully and admir- 
ably—better than I should have ever had the time and 
patience to do. Of course this was kept entirely secret; 
for had the seniors known that I had intrusted their papers 



FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF CORNELL-1870-1872 383 

to the tender mercies of a sophomore, they would prob- 
ably have mobbed me. This mode of examination con- 
tinued until the young man's graduation, when he was 
openly appointed examiner in history, afterward be 
coming instructor in history, then assistant professor; 
and, finally, another university having called him to a 
full professorship, he was appointed full professor of 
history at Cornell, and has greatly distinguished himself 
both by his ability in research and his power in teaching. 
To him have been added others as professors, assistant 
professors, and instructors, so that the department is now 
on an excellent footing. In one respect its development has 
been unexpectedly satisfactory. At the opening of the uni- 
versity one of my strongest hopes had been to establish a 
professorship of American history. It seemed to me mon- 
strous that there was not, in any American university, a 
course of lectures on the history of the United States ; and 
that an American student, in order to secure such in- 
struction in the history of his own country, must go to 
the lectures of Laboulaye at the College de France. Thi- 
ther I had gone some years before, and had been greatly 
impressed by Laboulaye 's admirable presentation of his 
subject, and awakened to the fact that American history 
is not only more instructive, but more interesting, than 
I had ever supposed it. My first venture was to call 
Professor George W. Greene of Brown University for a 
course of lectures on the history of our Revolutionary 
period, and Professor Dwight of Columbia College for 
a course upon the constitutional history of the United 
States. But finally my hope was more fully realized: I 
was enabled to call as resident professor my old friend 
Moses Coit Tyler, whose book on the " History of Ameri- 
can Literature" is a classic, and who, in his new field, 
exerted a powerful influence for good upon several gen- 
erations of students. More than once since, as I have 
heard him, it has been borne in upon me that I was born 
too soon. Remembering the utter want of any such in- 
struction in my own college days, I have especially envied 



384 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -VI 

those who have had the good fortune to be conducted by 
him, and men like him, through the history of our own 
country. 1 

In some of these departments to which I have referred 
there were occasionally difficulties requiring much tact 
in handling. During my professorial days at the Univer- 
sity of Michigan I once heard an eminent divine deliver 
an admirable address on what he called "The Oscillatory 
Law of Human Progress"— that is, upon the tendency 
of human society, when reacting from one evil, to swing 
to another almost as serious in the opposite direction. In 
swinging away from the old cast-iron course of instruc- 
tion, and from the text-book recitation of the mere dry 
bones of literature, there may be seen at this hour some 
tendency to excessive reaction. When I note in sundry 
university registers courses of instruction offered in some 
of the most evanescent and worthless developments of 
contemporary literature,— some of them, indeed, worse 
than worthless,— I think of a remark made to me by a 
college friend of mine who will be remembered by the 
Yale men of the fifties for his keen and pithy judgments 
of men and things. Being one day in New Haven looking 
for assistant professors and instructors, I met him ; and, 
on my answering his question as to what had brought me, 
he said, "If at any time you want a professor of horse 
sense, call me." I have often thought of this proposal 
since, and have at times regretted that some of our institu- 
tions of learning had not availed themselves of his services. 
The fact is that, under the new system, "horse sense" is es- 
pecially called for to prevent a too extreme reaction from 
the evils which afflicted university instruction during my 
student days. 

While it rejoices my heart to see the splendid courses 
in modern literature now offered at our larger universi- 
ties, some of them arouse misgivings. Reflecting upon 
the shortness of human life and the vast mass of really 
great literature, I see with regret courses offered dealing 

1 To my great sorrow, he died in 1900. — A. D. W. 



FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF CORNELL -1870-1872 385 

with the bubbles floating on the surface of sundry litera- 
tures—bubbles soon to break, some of them with ill odor. 

I would as soon think of endowing restaurants to enable 
young men to appreciate caviar, or old Gorgonzola, or 
game of a peculiarly ''high" character, as of establishing 
courses dealing with Villon, Baudelaire, Swinburne, and 
the like; and when I hear of second-rate critics sum- 
moned across the ocean to present to universities which 
have heard Emerson, Longfellow, Henry Reed, Lowell, 
Whipple, and Curtis the coagulated nastiness of Ver- 
laine, Mallarme, and their compeers, I expect next to 
hear of courses introducing young men to the beauties of 
absinthe, Turkish cigarettes, and stimulants unspeak- 
able. Doubtless these things are all due to the "oscilla- 
tory law of human progress," which professors of "horse 
sense" like my friend Joe Sheldon will gradually do 
away with. 

As time went on, buildings of various sorts rose around 
the university grounds, and, almost without exception, as 
gifts from men attracted by the plan of the institution. At 
the annual commencement in 1869 was laid the corner- 
stone of an edifice devoted especially to lecture-rooms and 
museums of natural science. It was a noble gift by Mr. 
John McGraw; and amid the cares and discouragements 
of that period it gave us new heart, and strengthened 
the institution especially on the scientific side. In order 
to do honor to this occasion, it was decided to invite lead- 
ing men from all parts of the State, and, above all, to 
request the governor, Mr. Fenton, to lay the corner-stone. 
But it was soon evident that his excellency's old fear of 
offending the sectarian schools still controlled him. He 
made excuse, and we then called on the Freemasons to 
take charge of the ceremony. They came in full re- 
galia, bringing their own orators ; and, on the appointed 
day, a great body of spectators was grouped about 
the foundations of the new building on the beautiful 
knoll in front of the upper quadrangle. It was an ideal 
afternoon in June, and the panorama before and around 

I.-25 



386 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -VI 

us was superb. Immediately below us, in front, lay the 
beautiful valley in which nestles the little city of Ithaca; 
beyond, on the left, was the vast amphitheater, nearly 
surrounded by hills and distant mountains; and on the 
right, Cayuga Lake, stretching northward for forty miles. 
Few points in our country afford a nobler view of lake, 
mountain, hill, and valley. The speakers naturally ex- 
patiated in all the moods and tenses on the munificence 
of Mr. Cornell and Mr. McGraw ; and when all was ended 
the great new bell, which had just been added to the uni- 
versity chime in the name of one most dear to me,— the 
largest bell then swinging in western New York, inscribed 
with the verse written for it by Lowell,— boomed grandly 
forth. As we came away I walked with Goldwin Smith, 
and noticed that he was convulsed with suppressed laugh- 
ter. On my asking him the cause, he answered: "There 
is nothing more to be said; no one need ever praise the 
work of Mr. Cornell again." On my asking the professor 
what he meant, he asked me if I had not heard the last 
speech. I answered in the negative— that my mind was 
occupied with other things. He then quoted it substan- 
tially as follows: "Fellow-citizens, when Mr. Cornell 
found himself rich beyond the dreams of avarice, did he 
give himself up to a life of inglorious ease? No, fellow- 
citizens; he founded the beautiful public library in 
yonder valley. But did he then retire to a life of luxury? 
No, fellow-citizens; he came up to this height (and 
here came a great wave of the hand over the vast amphi- 
theater below and around us) and he established this 
universe!" 

In reference to this occasion I may put on record 
Lowell 's quatrain above referred to, which is cast upon the 
great clock-bell of the university. It runs as follows : 

I strike as fly the irrevocable hours 
Futile as air, or strong as fate to make 
Your lives of sand or granite. Awful powers, 
Even as men choose, they either give or take. 



FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF CORNELL-1870-1872 387 

There was also cast upon it the following, from the 
Psalter version of Psalm xcii : 

To tell of thy loving-kindness early in the morning : and of thy 
truth in the night season. 

While various departments were thus developed, there 
was going on a steady evolution in the general conception 
of the university. In the Congressional act of 1862 was a 
vague provision for military instruction in the institutions 
which might be created under it. The cause of this was 
evident. The bill was passed during one of the most criti- 
cal periods in the history of the Civil War, and in my 
inaugural address I had alluded to this as most honorable 
to Senator Morrill and to the Congress which had adopted 
his proposals. It was at perhaps the darkest moment in 
the history of the United States that this provision was 
made, in this Morrill Act, for a great system of classical, 
scientific, and technical instruction in every State and Ter- 
ritory of the Union; and I compared this enactment, at 
so trying a period, to the conduct of the Romans in buying 
and selling the lands on which the Carthaginians were 
encamped after their victory at Cannae. The provision 
for military instruction had been inserted in this act of 
1862 because Senator Morrill and others saw clearly the 
advantage which had accrued to the States then in rebel- 
lion from their military schools; but the act had left 
military instruction optional with the institutions securing 
the national endowment, and, so far as I could learn, none 
of those already created had taken the clause very seri- 
ously. I proposed that we should accept it fully and 
fairly, not according to the letter of the act, but to the 
spirit of those who had passed it ; indeed, that we should 
go further than any other institution had dreamed of 
going, so that every undergraduate not excused on the 
ground of conscientious scruples, or for some other ade- 
quate cause, should be required to take a thorough 
course of military drill ; and to this end I supported a plan, 



388 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -VI 

which was afterward carried out by law, that officers from 
the United States army should be detailed by the Secretary 
of War to each of the principal institutions as military 
professors. My reasons for this were based on my recol- 
lections of what took place at the University of Michigan 
during the Civil War. I had then seen large numbers of 
my best students go forth insufficiently trained, and in 
some cases led to destruction by incompetent officers. At 
a later period, I had heard the West Point officer whom I 
had secured from Detroit to train those Michigan students 
express his wonder at the rapidity with which they learned 
what was necessary to make them soldiers and even offi- 
cers. Being young men of disciplined minds, they learned 
the drill far more quickly and intelligently than the aver- 
age recruits could do. There was still another reason for 
taking the military clause in the Morrill Act seriously. 
I felt then, and feel now, that our Republic is not to 
escape serious internal troubles ; that in these her reliance 
must be largely upon her citizen soldiery : that it will be a 
source of calamity, possibly of catastrophe, if the power 
of the sword in civil commotions shall fall into the hands 
of ignorant and brutal leaders, while the educated men of 
the country, not being versed in military matters, shall 
slink away from the scene of duty, cower in corners, and 
leave the conduct of military affairs to men intellectually 
and morally their inferiors. These views I embodied in 
a report to the trustees ; and the result was the formation 
of a university battalion, which has been one of the best 
things at Cornell. A series of well-qualified officers, sent 
by the War Department, have developed the system admir- 
ably. Its good results to the university have been acknow- 
ledged by all who have watched its progress. Farmers' 
boys,— slouchy, careless, not accustomed to obey any word 
of command ; city boys, sometimes pampered, often way- 
ward, have thus been in a short time transformed: they 
stand erect ; they look the world squarely in the face ; the 
intensity of their American individualism is happily modi- 
fied; they can take the word of command and they can 



FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF CORNELL-1870-1872 389 

give it. I doubt whether any feature of instruction at 
Cornell University has produced more excellent results 
upon character than the training thus given. And this is 
not all. The effect on the State has been valuable. It has 
already been felt in the organization and maintenance of 
the State militia; and during the war with Spain, Cor- 
nellians, trained in the university battalion, rendered 
noble service. 

Among the matters which our board of trustees and 
faculty had to decide upon at an early day was the con- 
ferring of degrees. It had become, and indeed has re- 
mained in many of our colleges down to the present 
day, an abuse, and a comical abuse. Almost more than 
any other thing, it tends to lower respect for many Ameri- 
can colleges and universities among thinking men. The 
older and stronger universities are free from it ; but many 
of the newer ones, especially various little sectarian col- 
leges, some of them calling themselves "universities," 
have abused and are abusing beyond measure their privi- 
lege of conferring degrees. Every one knows individuals 
in the community whose degrees, so far from adorning 
them, really render them ridiculous ; and every one knows 
colleges and "universities" made ridiculous by the con- 
ferring of such pretended honors. 

At the outset I proposed to our trustees that Cornell 
University should confer no honorary degrees of any 
sort, and a law was passed to that effect. This was ob- 
served faithfully during my entire presidency; then the 
policy was temporarily changed, and two honorary doc- 
torates were conferred ; but this was immediately followed 
by a renewal of the old law, and Cornell has conferred no 
honorary degrees since. 

But it is a question whether the time has not arrived 
for some relaxation of this policy. The argument I used 
in proposing the law that no honorary degree should be 
conferred was that we had not yet built up an institution 
whose degrees could be justly considered as of any value. 
That argument is no longer valid, and possibly some de- 



390 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -VI 

parture from it would now be wise. Still, the policy of 
conferring no honorary degrees is infinitely better than 
the policy of lavishing them. 

As to regular and ordinary degrees, I had, in my plan 
of organization, recommended that there should be but one 
degree for all courses, whether in arts, science, or litera- 
ture. I argued that, as all our courses required an equal 
amount of intellectual exertion, one simple degree should 
be granted alike to all who had passed the required ex- 
amination at the close of their chosen course. This view 
the faculty did not accept. They adopted the policy 
of establishing several degrees: as, for example, for the 
course in arts, the degree of A.B. ; for the course in science, 
the degree of B.S. ; for the course in literature, the degree 
of B.L. ; and so on. The reason given for this was that 
it was important in each case to know what the train- 
ing of the individual graduate had been; and that the 
true way to obviate invidious distinctions is so to perfect 
the newer courses that all the degrees shall finally be 
considered as of equal value and honor. This argument 
converted me: it seemed to me just, and my experience 
in calling men to professorships led me more and more 
to see that I had been wrong and that the faculty was 
right; for it was a matter of the greatest importance to 
me, in deciding on the qualifications of candidates for pro- 
fessorships, to know, not only their special fitness, but 
what their general education had been. 

But, curiously enough, within the last few years the 
Cornell faculty, under the lead of its present admirable 
president, has reverted to my old argument, accepted it, 
and established a single degree for all courses. I bow 
respectfully to their judgment, but my conversion by the 
same faculty from my own original ideas was so complete 
that I cannot now agree to the wisdom of the change. It 
is a curious case of cross-conversion, I having been and 
remaining converted to the ideas of the faculty, and they 
having been converted to my original idea. As to the 
whole matter, I have the faith of an optimist that eventu- 



FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF CORNELL-1870-1872 391 

ally, with the experience derived from both systems, a 
good result will be reached. 

Another question which at that time occupied me much 
was that of scholarships and fellowships awarded by com- 
petitive examinations versus general gratuitous instruc- 
tion. During the formation of my plans for the univer- 
sity, a number of excellent men urged upon me that all 
our instruction should be thrown open to all mankind free 
of charge ; that there should be no payment of instruction 
fees of any kind; that the policy which prevails in the 
public schools of the State should be carried out in the 
new institution at the summit of the system. This demand 
was plausible, but the more I thought upon it the more 
illogical, fallacious, and injurious it seemed ; and, in spite 
of some hard knocks in consequence, I have continued to 
dissent from it, and feel that events have justified me. 

Since this view of mine largely influenced the plan of 
the university, this is perhaps as good a place as any to 
sketch its development. In the first place, I soon saw that 
the analogy between free education in the public schools 
and in the university is delusive, the conditions of the two 
being entirely dissimilar. In a republic like ours primary 
education of the voters is a practical necessity. No re- 
public of real weight in the world, except Switzerland and 
the United States, has proved permanent; and the only 
difference between the many republics which have failed 
and these two, which, we hope, have succeeded, is that in 
the former the great body of the citizens were illiterate, 
while in the latter the great body of voters have had some 
general education. Without this education, sufficient for 
an understanding of the main questions involved, no real 
republic or democracy can endure. With general primary 
education up to a point necessary for the intelligent exer- 
cise of the suffrage, one may have hopes for the continu- 
ance and development of a democratic republic. On this 
account primary education should be made free: it is 
part of our political system; it is the essential condition 
of its existence. 



392 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-VI 

The purpose of university education is totally different. 
The interest of the Republic is, indeed, that it should 
maintain the very highest and best provision for advanced 
instruction, general, scientific, and technical ; and it is also 
in the highest interest of the Republic that its fittest young 
men and women should secure such instruction. No re- 
public, no nation in fact, possesses any other treasure 
comparable to its young citizens of active mind and ear- 
nest purpose. This is felt at the present time by all the 
great nations of the world, and consequently provision 
is made in almost all of them for the highest education of 
such men and women. Next to the general primary edu- 
cation of all voters, the most important duty of our Re- 
public is to develop the best minds it possesses for the best 
service in all its fields of high intellectual activity. To do 
this it must supply the best university education, and 
must smooth the way for those to acquire it who are best 
fitted for it, no matter how oppressive their poverty. 

Now, my first objection to gratuitous university instruc- 
tion to all students alike is that it stands in the way of 
this most important consummation; that it not only does 
not accomplish the end which is desirable, but that it does 
accomplish another which is exceedingly undesirable. 
For the real problem to be solved is this: How shall the 
higher education in different fields be brought within 
reach of the young men and women best fitted to acquire 
it, to profit by it, and to use it to best advantage! Any 
one acquainted with American schools and universities 
knows that the vast majority of these young people 
best fitted to profit by higher education come from the 
families of small means. What does gratuitous instruc- 
tion in the university offer them? Merely a remission of 
instruction fees, which, after all, are but a small part of 
the necessary expenses of a university course. With many 
of these young persons— probably with most— a mere re- 
mission of instruction fees is utterly insufficient to enable 
them to secure advanced education. I have alluded to the 
case of President Cleveland, who, having been well fitted 



FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF CORNELL-1870-1872 393 

for the university, could not enter. His father being a 
country clergyman with a large family and small means, 
the future Chief Executive of the United States was obliged 
to turn aside to a teacher's place and a clerkship which 
afforded him a bare support. At the Hamilton College 
commencement a few years since, Mr. Cleveland, pointing 
to one of the professors, was reported as saying in sub- 
stance: "My old school friend by my side is, of all men, 
the one I have most envied: he was able to buy a good 
edition of Vergil; I was not." 

It would not have been at all difficult for him to secure 
a remission of instruction fees at various American col- 
leges and universities ; but the great difficulty was that he 
could not secure the means necessary for his board, for 
his clothing, for his traveling expenses, for his books, for 
all the other things that go to make up the real cost of life 
at a university. I can think of but one way, and that is, 
as a rule, to charge instruction fees upon the great body 
of the students, but both to remit instruction fees and to 
give scholarships and fellowships to those who, in com- 
petitive examinations and otherwise, show themselves 
especially worthy of such privileges. This is in confor- 
mity to the system of nature; it is the survival of the 
fittest. This was the main reason which led me to insert 
in the charter of Cornell University the provision by 
which at present six hundred students from the State of 
New York are selected by competitive examinations out of 
the mass of scholars in the public schools, and to provide 
that each of these best scholars shall have free instruction 
for four years. 

But this was only a part of the system. From the first 
I have urged the fact above mentioned, namely, that while 
remission of instruction fees is a step in the right direc- 
tion, it is not sufficient; and I have always desired to see 
some university recognize the true and sound principle 
of free instruction in universities by consecrating all 
moneys received from instruction fees to the creation 
of competitive scholarships and fellowships, each of which 



394 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-VI 

shall amount to a sum sufficient to meet, with economy, the 
living expenses of a student. This plan I was enabled, in 
considerable measure, to carry out by establishing the 
competitive scholarships in each Assembly district; and 
later, as will be seen in another chapter, I was enabled, by 
a curious transformation of a calamity into a blessing, to 
carry it still further by establishing endowed scholarships 
and fellowships. These latter scholarships, each, as a 
general rule, of two hundred and fifty dollars a year, were 
awarded to those who passed the best examinations and 
maintained the best standing in their classes; while the 
fellowships, each of the value of from four to five hundred 
dollars a year, were awarded to the seniors of our own or 
other universities who had been found most worthy of 
them. In the face of considerable opposition I set this 
system in motion at Cornell; and its success leads me to 
hope that it will be further developed, not only there, but 
elsewhere. Besides this, I favored arrangements for re- 
mitting instruction fees and giving aid to such students as 
really showed promising talent, and who were at the time 
needy. To this end a loan fund was created which has 
been carefully managed and has aided many excellent 
men through the university courses. 1 Free instruction, 
carried out in accordance with the principle and plan 
above sketched, will, I feel sure, prove of great value to 
our country. Its effect is to give to the best and brightest 
young men, no matter how poor, just the chance they 
need; and not as a matter of charity, but as a matter of 
wise policy. This is a system which I believe would be 
fraught with blessings to our country, securing advanced 
education to those who can profit by it, and strengthening 
their country by means of it. 

On the other hand, the system of gratuitous remission 
of instruction fees to all students alike, whether rich or 
poor, I believe to be injurious to the country, for the 
following reasons: First, it generally cripples the insti- 

1 It has since been greatly increased by the bequest of a 
public-spirited New York merchant. 



FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF CORNELL-1870-1872 395 

tution which gives it. Two or three large institutions 
which have thought themselves in possession of endow- 
ments sufficient to warrant giving gratuitous instruction 
have tried it, but as a rule have not been able to go on 
with it, and have at last come to the principle of charging 
moderate fees. Secondly, it simply makes a present of a 
small sum to a large number of young men, most of whom 
neither need nor appreciate it, and who would be better 
for regarding their university instruction as something 
worth paying for. 

But my main objection to the system of indiscriminate 
gratuitous instruction is that it does the country a posi- 
tive injury in drawing away from the farms, workshops, 
and stores large numbers of young persons who would 
better have been allowed to remain there ; that it tends to 
crowd what have been called ''the learned professions" 
with men not really fitted for them ; that it draws masses 
of men whose good right arms would be of great value in 
the rural districts, and makes them parasites in the cities. 
The farmers and the artisans complain of the lack of 
young men and women for their work; the professional 
men complain that the cities are overstocked with young 
men calling themselves lawyers, doctors, engineers, and 
the like, but really unworthy to exercise either profession, 
who live on the body politic as parasites more or less 
hurtful. This has certainly become an evil in other coun- 
tries : every enlightened traveler knows that the ranks of 
the anarchists in Russia are swollen by what are called 
"fruits sees"— that is, by young men and young women 
tempted away from manual labor and avocations for which 
they are fit into "professions" for which they are unfit. 
The more first-rate young men and young women our uni- 
versities and technical schools educate the better; but the 
more young men and women of mediocre minds and weak 
purpose whom they push into the ranks of poor lawyers, 
poor doctors, poor engineers, and the like, the more in- 
jury they do to the country. 

As I now approach the end of life and look back over 



396 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-VI 

the development of Cornell University, this at least seems 
to me one piece of good fortune— namely, that I have 
aided to establish there the principle of using our means, 
so far as possible, not for indiscriminate gratuitous higher 
education of men unfit to receive it; not, as President 
Jordan has expressed it, in ' ' trying to put a five-thousand- 
dollar education into a fifty-cent boy ' ' ; but in establishing 
a system which draws out from the community, even from 
its poorest and lowliest households, the best, brightest, 
strongest young men and women, and develops their best 
powers, thus adding to the greatest treasure which their 
country can possess. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

"COEDUCATION" AND AN UNSECTARIAN PULPIT— 1871-1904 

STILL another new departure was in some respects 
bolder than any of those already mentioned. For 
some years before the organization of Cornell, I had 
thought much upon the education of women, and had grad- 
ually arrived at the conclusion that they might well be 
admitted to some of the universities established for.young 
men. Yet, at the same time, Herbert Spencer's argument 
as to the importance of avoiding everything like ' ' manda- 
rinism"— the attempt to force all educational institutions 
into the same mold— prevented my urging this admission 
of women upon all universities alike. I recognized obsta- 
cles to it in the older institutions which did not exist in the 
newer; but I had come to believe that where no special 
difficulties existed, women might well be admitted to uni- 
versity privileges. To this view I had been led by my own 
observation even in my boyhood. At Cortland Academy 
I had seen young men and women assembled in the class- 
rooms without difficulty or embarrassment, and at Yale I 
had seen that the two or three lecture-rooms which ad- 
mitted women were the most orderly and decent of all ; but 
perhaps the strongest influence in this matter was exercised 
upon me by my mother. She was one of the most con- 
servative of women, a High-church Episcopalian, and gen- 
erally averse to modern reforms ; but on my talking over 
with her some of my plans for Cornell University, she 
said : ' ' I am not so sure about your other ideas, but as to 
the admission of women you are right. My main educa- 

397 



398 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-VII 

tion was derived partly from a boarding-school at Pitts- 
field considered one of the best in New England, and partly 
from Cortland Academy. In the boarding-school we had 
only young women, but in the academy we had both young 
men and young women ; and I am sure that the results of 
the academy were much better than those of the boarding- 
school. The young men and young women learned to re- 
spect each other, not merely for physical, but for intel- 
lectual and moral qualities; so there came a healthful 
emulation in study, the men becoming more manly and the 
women more womanly ; and never, so far as I have heard, 
did any of the evil consequences follow which some of 
your opponents are prophesying. ' ' 

A conference with Dr. Woolworth, a teacher of the very 
largest experience, showed me that none of the evil results 
which were prophesied had resulted. He solemnly assured 
me that, during his long experiences as principal of two or 
three large academies, and, as secretary of the Board of 
Regents, in close contact with all the academies and high 
schools of the State, he had never known of a serious scan- 
dal arising between students of different sexes. 

As I drafted the main features of the university charter 
these statements were in my mind, but I knew well that it 
would be premature to press the matter at the outset. It 
would certainly have cost us the support of the more con- 
servative men in the legislature. All that I could do at 
that time I did ; and this was to keep out of the charter 
anything which could embarrass us regarding the question 
in the future, steadily avoiding in every clause relating to 
students the word ' ' man, ' ' and as steadily using the word 
"person." In conversations between Mr. Cornell and 
myself on this subject, I found that we agreed; and in our 
addresses at the opening of the university we both alluded 
to it, he favoring it in general terms, and I developing 
sundry arguments calculated to prepare the way for future 
action upon it. At the close of the exercises Mr. John 
McGraw, who was afterward so munificent toward us, 
came to me and said: "My old business partner, Henry 



" COEDUCATION "-1871-1904 399 

Sage, who sat next me during the exercises this morning, 
turned to me during your allusion to Mr. Cornell with 
tears in his eyes, and said: 'John, we are scoundrels to 
stand doing nothing while those men are killing themselves 
to establish this university. ' " In the afternoon Mr. Sage 
himself came to me and said : " I believe you are right in 
regard to admitting women, but you are evidently carry- 
ing as many innovations just now as public opinion will 
bear; when you are ready to move in the matter, let me 
know." 

The following year came the first application of a young 
woman for admission. Her case was strong, for she pre- 
sented a certificate showing that she had passed the best 
examination for the State scholarship in Cortland County ; 
and on this I admitted her. Under the scholarship clause 
in the charter I could not do otherwise. On reporting 
the case to the trustees, they supported me unanimously, 
though some of them reluctantly. The lady student 
proved excellent from every point of view, and her ad- 
mission made a mere temporary ripple on the surface 
of our affairs; but soon came a peculiar difficulty. The 
only rooms for students in those days on the University 
Hill were in the barracks filled with young men ; and there- 
fore the young woman took rooms in town, coming up to 
lectures two or three times a day. It was a hard struggle ; 
for the paths and roads leading to the university grounds, 
four hundred feet above the valley, were not as in these 
days, and the electric trolley had not been invented. She 
bore the fatigue patiently until winter set in; then she 
came to me, expressing regret at her inability to toil up the 
icy steep, and left us. On my reporting this to the trustees, 
Mr. Sage made his proposal. I had expected from him 
a professorship or a fellowship; but to my amazement 
he offered to erect and endow a separate college for young 
women in the university, and for this purpose to give us 
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. A committee 
of trustees having been appointed to examine and re- 
port upon this proposal, I was made its chairman; and, 



400 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-VI 

in company with. Mr. Sage, visited various Western in- 
stitutions where experiments in the way of what was 
called " coeducation" had been tried. At Oberlin College 
in Ohio two serious doubts were removed from my mind. 
The first of these was regarding the health of the young 
women. I had feared that in the hard work and vigorous 
competitions of the university they would lose their physi- 
cal strength; but here we found that, with wise precau- 
tions, the health of the young women had been quite equal 
to that of the young men. My other fear was that their 
education with young men might cost some sacrifice of the 
better general characteristics of both sexes ; but on study- 
ing the facts I became satisfied that the men had been 
made more manly and the women more womanly. As to 
the manliness there could be little doubt; for the best 
of all tests had been applied only a few years before, when 
Oberlin College had poured forth large numbers of its 
young men, as volunteers, into the Union army. As to the 
good effect upon women, it was easy to satisfy myself 
when I met them, not only at the college, but in various 
beautiful Western homes. 

Very striking testimony was also given at the University 
of Michigan. Ten years earlier I had known that institu- 
tion well, and my professorship there, which lasted six 
years, had made me well acquainted with the character and 
spirit of its students ; but, since my day, women had been 
admitted, and some of the results of this change surprised 
me much. Formerly a professor's lecture- or recitation- 
room had been decidedly a roughish place. The men had 
often been slouchy and unkempt. Now all was quiet and 
orderly, the dress of the students much neater ; in fact, it 
was the usual difference between assemblages of men alone 
and of men and women together, or, as I afterward phrased 
it, "between the smoking-car and the car back of it." 
Perhaps the most convincing piece of testimony came from 

an old janitor. As I met him I said : ' ' Well, J , do the 

students still make life a burden to you V " Oh, no, ' ' he 
answered; "that is all gone by. They can't rush each 



" COEDUCATION "- 1871-1904 401 

other up and down the staircases or have boxing-matches 
in the lobbies any longer, for the girls are there. ' ' 

My report went fully into the matter, favored the ad- 
mission of women, and was adopted by the trustees unani- 
mously—a thing which surprised me somewhat, since two 
of them, Judge Folger and Mr. Erastus Brooks, were 
among the most conservative men I have ever known. The 
general results were certainly fortunate; though one or 
two minor consequences were, for a year or two, somewhat 
disappointing. Two or three of the faculty and a con- 
siderable number of the students were greatly opposed to 
the admission of women, a main cause of this being the 
fear that it would discredit the institution in the eyes of 
members of other universities, and the number of the 
whole student body was consequently somewhat dimin- 
ished; but that feeling died away, the numbers became 
larger than ever, and the system proved a blessing, not 
only to the university, but to the State at large. None of 
the prophecies of evil so freely made by the opponents of 
the measure have ever been fulfilled. Every arrangement 
was made in Mr. Sage's building to guard the health of the 
young women ; and no one will say that the manliness of 
men or the womanliness of women has ever suffered in 
consequence of the meeting of the two sexes in class- 
rooms, laboratories, chapel, or elsewhere. From one evil 
which was freely prophesied the university has been singu- 
larly free. It was declared that a great deal of ' ' spoon- 
ing" would result. This has not been the case. Both 
sexes seem to have been on their guard against it; and, 
although pleasant receptions have, as a rule, taken place 
weekly at Sage College, and visits to its residents have 
been permitted at suitable times, no embarrassing attach- 
ments have resulted. 

The main difficulties arose from a cause which proved 
very short-lived. Several of the young women who first 
applied for admission held high ideas as to their rights. 
To them Sage College was an offense. Its beautiful par- 
lors, conservatories, library, lecture-rooms, and lawns, 

I.— 26 



402 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -VII 

with its lady warden who served as guide, philosopher, and 
friend, were all the result of a deep conspiracy against the 
rights of women. Again and again a committee of them 
came to me, insisting that young women should be treated 
exactly like young men ; that there should be no lady war- 
den ; that every one of them should be free to go and come 
from Sage College at every hour in the twenty-four, as 
young men were free to go and come from their dormi- 
tories. My answer was that the cases were not the same ; 
that when young women insisted on their right to come and 
go at all times of the day and night, as they saw fit, without 
permission, it was like their right to walk from the campus 
to the beautiful point opposite us on the lake : the right they 
undoubtedly had, but insurmountable obstacles were in the 
way; and I showed them that a firm public opinion was 
an invincible barrier to the liberties they claimed. Still, 
they were allowed advisory powers in the management of 
the college; the great majority made wise use of this 
right, and all difficulty was gradually overcome. 

Closely connected with the erection of Sage College was 
the establishment of Sage Chapel. From the first I had 
desired to have every working-day begun with a simple 
religious service at which attendance should be voluntary, 
and was glad to see that in the cheerless lecture-room 
where this service was held there usually assembled a 
goodly number of professors and students, in spite of the 
early hour and long walk from town. But for Sunday 
there was no provision ; and one day, on my discussing the 
matter with Mr. Sage, he said that he would be glad to es- 
tablish a chapel on the university grounds for the general 
use of professors and students, if I saw no objection. This 
proposal I heartily welcomed, but on two conditions : first, 
that the chapel should never be delivered over to any one 
sect; secondly, that students should be attracted, but not 
coerced into it. To these conditions Mr. Sage agreed, and 
the building was erected. 

As it approached completion there came a proposal 
which opened a new era in our university life. Mr. Dean 



AN UNSECTARIAN PULPIT -1871 -1904 403 

Sage, the eldest son of him who had given us the women's 
college and the chapel, proposed to add an endowment for 
a chaplaincy, and suggested that a clergyman of the Prot- 
estant Episcopal Church he appointed to that office. This 
would have been personally pleasing to me; for, though 
my churchmanship was ''exceeding broad," I was still 
attracted to the church in which I was brought up, and felt 
nowhere else so much at home. But it seemed to me that 
we had no right, under our charter, to give such prominence 
to any single religious organization ; and I therefore pro- 
posed to the donor that the endowment be applied to a 
preachership to be filled by leading divines of all denomi- 
nations. In making this proposal I had in view, not only 
the unsectarian feature embodied in our charter, but my 
observation of university chaplaincies generally. I had 
noticed that, at various institutions, excellent clergymen, 
good preachers, thorough scholars, charming men, when 
settled as chaplains, had, as a rule, been unable to retain 
their hold upon the great body of the students. The 
reason was not far to seek. The average parish clergy- 
man, even though he be not a strong preacher or profound 
scholar or brilliant talker, if he be at all fit for his po- 
sition, gradually wins the hearts of his congregation. He 
has baptized their children, married their young men and 
maidens, buried their dead, rejoiced with those who have 
rejoiced, and wept with those who have wept. A strong 
tie has thus grown up. But such a tie between a chaplain 
and bodies of students shifting from year to year, is, in 
the vast majority of cases, impossible. Hence it is that 
even the most brilliant preachers settled in universities 
have rapidly lost their prestige among the students. I 
remembered well how, at Geneva and at Yale, my college- 
mates joked at the peculiarities of clergymen connected 
with the college, who, before I entered it, had been objects 
of my veneration. I remembered that at Yale one of my 
class was wont to arouse shouts of laughter by his droll 
imitations of the prayers of the leading professors— imi- 
tations in which their gestures, intonations, and bits of 



404 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-VII 

rhetoric and oratory were most ludicrously caricatured. I 
remembered, too, how a college pastor, a man greatly 
revered, was really driven out of the university pulpit by 
a squib in a students' paper, and how several of his suc- 
cessors had finally retreated into professorships in the 
Divinity School ; and I felt that leading men coming from 
week to week from the outside world would be taken at 
the value which the outside world puts upon them, and 
that they would bring in a fresh atmosphere. My expecta- 
tions were more than fulfilled. The preachership having 
been established, I sent invitations to eminent clergymen 
along the whole gamut of belief, from the Roman Catholic 
bishop of the diocese to the most advanced Protestants. 
The bishop answered me most courteously; but, to my 
sincere regret, declined. One or two bishops of the Prot- 
estant Episcopal Church also made some difficulties at 
first, but gradually they were glad to accept; for it was 
felt to be a privilege and a pleasure to preach to so large 
a body of open-minded young men, and the course of ser- 
mons has for years deepened and strengthened what is best 
in university life. The whole system was indeed at first 
attacked; and while we had formerly been charged with 
godlessness, we were now charged with "indifferentism" 
—whatever that might mean. But I have had the pleasure 
of living to see this system adopted at other leading uni- 
versities of our country, and it is evidently on its way to 
become the prevailing system among all of them. I be- 
lieve that no pulpit in the United States has exercised a 
more powerful influence for good. Strong men have been 
called to it from all the leading religious bodies ; and they, 
knowing the character of their audience, have never 
advocated sectarianism, but have presented the great fun- 
damental truths upon which all religion must be based. 

The first of these university preachers was Phillips 
Brooks, and he made a very deep impression. An inter- 
esting material result of his first sermon was that Mr. 
William Sage, the second son of our benefactor, came for- 
ward at the close of the service, and authorized me to 



AN UNSECTARIAN PULPIT- 1871-1904 405 

secure a beautiful organ for the university chapel. 1 In 
my addresses to students I urged them to attend for 
various good reasons, and, if for none of these, because a 
man is but poorly educated who does not keep himself 
abreast of the religious thought of his country. Curious 
was it to see Japanese students, some of them Buddhists, 
very conscientious in their attendance, their eyes steadily 
fixed upon the preacher. 

My selections for the preachership during the years of 
my presidency were made with great care. So far as pos- 
sible, I kept out all "sensational preaching." I had no 
wish to make the chapel a place for amusement or for 
ground and lofty tumbling by clerical performers, and the 
result was that its ennobling influence was steadily main- 
tained. 

Some other pulpits in the university town were not so 
well guarded. A revivalist, having been admitted to one 
of them, attempted to make a sensation in various ways ; 
and one evening laid great stress on the declaration that 
she was herself a brand plucked from the burning, and 
that her parents were undoubtedly lost. A few minutes 
afterward, one of the Cornell students present, thinking, 
doubtless, that his time would be better employed upon his 
studies, arose and walked down the aisle to the door. At 
this the preacher called out, "There goes a young man 
straight down to hell." Thereupon the student turned 
instantly toward the preacher and asked quietly, "Have 
you any message to send to your father and mother?' 

Our list of university preachers, both from our own and 
other countries, as I look back upon it, is wonderful to me. 
Becoming acquainted with them, I have learned to love 
very many men whom I previously distrusted, and have 
come to see more and more the force of the saying, "The 
man I don't like is the man I don't know." Many of 
their arguments have not appealed to me, but some 
from which I have entirely dissented, have suggested 
trains of profitable thought ; in fact, no services have ever 

l Sunday, June 13, 1875. 



406 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -VII 

done more for me, and, judging from the numbers who 
have thronged the chapel, there has been a constant good 
influence upon the faculty and students. 

In connection with the chapel may be mentioned the de- 
velopment of various religious associations, the first of 
these being the Young Men 's Christian Association. Feel- 
ing the importance of this, although never a member of it, 
I entered heartily into its plan, and fitted up a hall for its 
purposes. As this hall had to serve also, during certain 
evenings in the week, for literary societies, I took pains 
to secure a series of large and fine historical engravings 
from England, France, and Germany, among them some 
of a decidedly religious cast, brought together after a 
decidedly Broad-church fashion. Of these, two, adjoining 
each other, represented— the one, Luther discussing with 
his associates his translation of the Bible, and the other, 
St. Vincent de Paul comforting the poor and the afflicted ; 
and it was my hope that the juxtaposition of these two 
pictures might suggest ideas of toleration in its best sense 
to the young men and women who were to sit beneath 
them. About the room, between these engravings, I placed 
some bronze statuettes, obtained in Europe, representing 
men who had done noble work in the world; so that it 
was for some years one of the attractions of the university. 

Some years later came a gift very advantageous to this 
side of university life. A gentleman whom I had known 
but slightly— Mr. Albert S. Barnes of Brooklyn, a trustee 
of the university— dropped in at my house one morning, 
and seemed to have something on his mind. By and by he 
very modestly asked what I thought of his putting up a 
building for the religious purposes of the students. I 
welcomed the idea joyfully; only expressing the hope that 
it would not be tied up in any way, but open to all forms 
of religious effort. In this idea he heartily concurred, and 
the beautiful building which bears his honored name was 
the result,— one of the most perfect for its purposes that 
can be imagined,— and as he asked me to write an inscrip- 
tion for the corner-stone, I placed on it the words: "For 



AN UNSECTARIAN PULPIT-1871-1904 407 

the Promotion of God's Work among Men." This has 
seemed, ever since, to be the key-note of the work done 
in that building. 

It has been, and is, a great pleasure to me to see young 
men joining in religious effort; and I feel proud of the 
fact that from this association at Cornell many strong and 
earnest men have gone forth to good work as clergymen 
in our own country and in others. 

In the erection of the new group of buildings south of 
the upper university quadrangle, as well as in building 
the president's house hard by, an opportunity was offered 
for the development of some minor ideas regarding the 
evolution of university life at Cornell which I had deeply 
at heart. During my life at Yale, as well as during visits 
to various other American colleges, I had been painfully 
impressed by the lack of any development of that which 
may be called the commemorative or poetical element. In 
the long row of barracks at Yale one longed for some 
little bit of beauty, and hungered and thirsted for some- 
thing which connected the present with the past ; but, with 
the exception of the portraits in the Alumni Hall, there 
was little more to feed the sense of beauty or to meet one's 
craving for commemoration of the past than in a cotton- 
factory. One might frequent the buildings at Yale or 
Harvard or Brown, as they then were, for years, and see 
nothing of an architectural sort which had been put in 
its place for any other reason than bare utility. 

Hence came an effort to promote at Cornell some devel- 
opment of a better kind. Among the first things I ordered 
were portraits by competent artists of the leading non- 
resident professors, Agassiz, Lowell, Curtis, and Goldwin 
Smith. This example was, from time to time, followed 
by the faculty and trustees, the former commemorating 
by portraits some of their more eminent members, and the 
latter ordering portraits of some of those who had con- 
nected their names with the university by benefactions or 
otherwise, such as Mr. Cornell, Senator Morrill, Mr. Sage, 
Mr. McGraw, and others. The alumni and undergradu- 



408 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -VII 

ates also added portraits of professors. This custom has 
proved very satisfactory; and the line of portraits hang- 
ing in the library cannot fail to have an ennobling influ- 
ence on many of those who, day after day, sit beneath 
them. 

But the erection of these new buildings— Sage College, 
Sage Chapel, Barnes Hall, and, finally, the university li- 
brary—afforded an opportunity to do something of a 
different sort. There was a chance for some effort to 
promote beauty of detail in construction, and, fortunately, 
the forethought of Goldwin Smith helped us greatly in 
this. On his arrival in Ithaca, just after the opening of 
the university, he had seen that we especially needed 
thoroughly trained artisans; and he had written to his 
friend Auberon Herbert, asking him to select and send 
from England a number of the best he could find. Nearly 
all proved of value, and one of them gave himself to the 
work in a way which won my heart. This was Robert 
Richardson, a stone-carver. I at first employed him to 
carve sundry capitals, corbels, and spandrels for the presi- 
dent 's house, which I was then building on the university 
grounds; and this work was so beautifully done that, in 
the erection of Sage College, another opportunity was 
given him. Any one who, to-day, studies the capitals of 
the various columns, especially those in the porch, in the 
loggia of the northern tower, and in some of the front 
windows, will feel that he put his heart into the work. He 
wrought the flora of the region into these creations of 
his, and most beautifully. But best of all was his work 
in the chapel. The tracery of the windows, the capitals 
of the columns, and the corbels supporting the beams of 
the roof were masterpieces ; and, in my opinion, no invest- 
ment of equal amount has proved to be of more value to 
us, even for the moral and intellectual instruction of our 
students, than these examples of a conscientious devotion 
of genius and talent which he thus gave us. 

The death of Mr. Cornell afforded an opportunity for 
a further development in the same direction. It was felt 



AN UNSECTARIAN PULPIT-1871-1904 409 

that his remains ought to rest on that beautiful site, in the 
midst of the institution he loved so well ; and I proposed 
that a memorial chapel be erected, beneath which his re- 
mains and those of other benefactors of the university 
might rest, and that it should be made beautiful. This was 
done. The stone vaulting, the tracery, and other decora- 
tive work, planned by our professor of architecture, and 
carried out as a labor of love by Richardson, were all that 
I could desire. The trustees, entering heartily into the 
plan, authorized me to make an arrangement with Story, 
the American sculptor at Rome, to execute a reclining 
statue of Mr. Cornell above the crypt where rest his 
remains; and citizens of Ithaca also authorized me to se- 
cure in London the memorial window beneath which the 
statue is placed. Other memorials followed, in the shape 
of statues, busts, and tablets, as others who had been loved 
and lost were laid to rest in the chapel crypt, until the 
little building has become a place of pilgrimage. In the 
larger chapel, also, tablets and windows were erected from 
time to time ; and the mosaic and other decorations of the 
memorial apse, recently erected as a place of repose for 
the remains of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Sage, are a beautiful 
development of the same idea. 

So, too, upon the grounds, some effort was made to 
connect the present with the past. Here, as elsewhere in 
our work, it seemed to me well to impress, upon the more 
thinking students at least, the idea that all they saw 
had not "happened so," without the earnest agency of 
human beings ; but that it had been the result ot the earnest 
life-work of men and women, and that no life-work to 
which a student might aspire could be more worthy. In 
carrying out this idea upon the "campus" Goldwin Smith 
took the lead by erecting the stone seat which has now 
stood there for over thirty years. Other memorials fol- 
lowed, among them a drinking-fountain, the stone bridge 
across the Cascadilla, the memorial seat back of the li- 
brary, the entrance gateway, and the like; and, at the 
lamented death of Richardson, another English stone- 



410 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -VII 

carver put his heart into some of the details of the newly 
erected library. 

Meanwhile, the grounds themselves became more and 
more beautiful. There was indeed one sad mistake; and 
I feel bound, in self-defense, to state that it was made 
during an absence of mine in Europe: this was the erec- 
tion of the chemical laboratory upon the promontory 
northwest of the upper quadrangle. That site afforded 
one of the most beautiful views in our own or any other 
country. A very eminent American man of letters, who 
had traveled much in other countries, said to me, as we 
stood upon it, "I have traveled hundreds of miles in Eu- 
rope to obtain views not half so beautiful as this." It 
was the place to which Mr. Cornell took the trustees at 
their first meeting in Ithaca, when their view from it led 
them to choose the upper site for the university buildings 
rather than the lower. On this spot I remember once 
seeing Phillips Brooks evidently overawed by the amazing 
beauty of the scene spread out at his feet— the great am- 
phitheater to the south and southwest, the hills beyond, 
and Cayuga Lake stretching to the north and northwest. 
But though this part of the grounds has been covered by 
a laboratory which might better have been placed else- 
where, much is still left, and this has been treated so as to 
add to the natural charm of the surroundings. With the 
exception of the grounds of the State University of Wis- 
consin and of the State University and Stanford Univer- 
sity in California, I know of none approaching in beauty 
those of Cornell. I feel bound to say, however, that there 
is a danger. Thus far, though mistakes have been made 
here and there, little harm has been done which is irreme- 
diable. But this may not always be the case. In my view, 
one of the most important things to be done by the trustees 
is to have a general plan most carefully decided upon 
which shall be strictly conformed to in the erection of all 
future buildings, no matter what their size or character 
may be. This has been urged from time to time, but 



AN UNSECTARIAN PULPIT- 1871-1904 411 

deferred. 1 The experience of other universities in the 
United States is most instructive in this respect. Nearly 
every one of them has suffered greatly from the want 
of some such general plan. One has but to visit almost 
any one of them to see buildings of different materials and 
styles — classical, Renaissance, Gothic, and nondescript 
—thrown together in a way at times fairly ludicrous. 
Thomas Jefferson, in founding the University of Virginia, 
was wiser ; and his beautiful plan was carried out so fully, 
under his own eyes, that it has never been seriously de- 
parted from. At Stanford University, thanks to the wis- 
dom of its founders, a most beautiful plan was adopted, 
to which the buildings have been so conformed that no- 
thing could be more satisfactory; and recently another 
noble Calif ornian— Mrs. Hearst— has devoted a queenly 
gift to securing a plan worthy of the University of Cali- 
fornia. At the opening of Cornell, as I have already 
said, a general plan was determined upon, with an upper 
quadrangle of stone, plain but dignified, to be at some 
future time architecturally enriched, and with a freer 
treatment of buildings on other parts of the grounds ; but 
there is always danger, and I trust that I may be allowed 
to remind my associates and successors in the board of 
trustees, of the necessity, in the future development of the 
university, for a satisfactory plan, suitable to the site, to 
be steadily kept in mind. 

1 It has now— 1904— been very intelligently developed. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

ROCKS, STORMS, AND PERIL— 1868-1874 

THUS far I have dwelt especially upon the steady de- 
velopment of the university in its general system of 
instruction, its faculty, its equipment, and its daily life ; 
but it must not be supposed that all was plain sailing. On 
the contrary, there were many difficulties, some discour- 
agements, and at times we passed through very deep 
waters. There were periods when ruin stared us in the 
face— when I feared that my next move must be to close 
our doors and announce the suspension of instruction. 
The most serious of these difficulties were financial. Mr. 
Cornell had indeed endowed the institution munificently, 
and others followed his example: the number of men 
and women who came forward to do something for it 
was astonishing. In addition to the great endowments 
made by Mr. Cornell, Mr. Sage, Mr. McGraw, Mr. Sibley, 
and others, which aggregated millions, there were smaller 
gifts no less encouraging: Goldwin Smith's gift of his 
services, of his library, and of various sums to increase 
it, rejoiced us all ; and many other evidences of confidence, 
in the shape of large collections of books and material, 
cheered us in that darkest period; and from that day to 
this such gifts have continued. 

Some of the minor gifts were especially inspiring, 
as showing the breadth of interest in our work. One of 
them warmed my heart when it was made, and for many 
years afterward cheered me amid many cares. As Mr. Sage 
and myself were one day looking over matters upon the 

412 



ROCKS, STORMS, AND PERIL- 1868-1874 413 

grounds, there came along, in his rough wagon, a plain 
farmer from a distant part of the county, a hard-working 
man of very small means, who had clearly something 
upon his mind. Presently he said: "I would very much 
like to do something for the university if I could. I have 
no money to give ; but I have thought that possibly some 
good elm-trees growing on my farm might be of use to 
you, and if you wish them I will put them in the best con- 
dition and bring them to you." This offer we gladly 
accepted; the farmer brought the trees; they were care- 
fully planted ; they have now, for over twenty years, given 
an increasing and ever more beautiful shade to one of 
the main university avenues ; and in the line of them stands 
a stone on which are engraved the words, "Ostrander 
Elms." 

But while all this encouraged us, there were things of a 
very different sort. Could the university have been de- 
veloped gradually, normally, and in obedience to a policy 
determined solely by its president, trustees, and faculty, 
all would have gone easily. But our charter made this im- 
possible. Many departments must be put into operation 
speedily, each one of them demanding large outlay for 
buildings, equipment, and instruction. From all parts of 
the State" came demands— some from friends, some from 
enemies— urging us to do this, blaming us for not doing 
that, and these utterances were echoed in various presses, 
and reechoed from the State legislature. Every nerve had 
to be strained to meet these demands. I remember well 
that when a committee of the Johns Hopkins trustees, just 
before the organization of that university, visited Cornell 
and looked over our work, one of them said to me : " We 
at least have this in our favor : we can follow out our own 
conceptions and convictions of what is best; we have no 
need of obeying the injunctions of any legislature, the 
beliefs of any religious body, or the clamors of any press ; 
we are free to do what we really believe best, as slowly, 
and in such manner, as we see fit." As this was said a 
feeling of deep envy came over me : our condition was the 



414 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-VIII 

very opposite of that. In getting ready for the opening 
of the university in October, 1868, as required by our 
charter, large sums had to be expended on the site now so 
beautiful, but then so unpromising. Mr. Cornell's private 
affairs, as also the constant demands upon him in locating 
the university lands on the northern Mississippi, kept him 
a large part of the time far from the university ; and my 
own university duties crowded every day. The president 
of a university in those days tilled a very broad field. He 
must give instruction, conduct examinations, preside over 
the faculty, correspond with the trustees, address the 
alumni in various parts of the country, respond to calls 
for popular lectures, address the legislature from time 
to time with reference to matters between the university 
and the State, and write for reviews and magazines ; and 
all this left little time for careful control of financial 
matters. 

In this condition of things Mr. Cornell had installed, as 
' ' business manager, ' ' a gentleman supposed to be of wide 
experience, who, in everything relating to the ordinary 
financial management of the institution, was all-powerful. 
But as months went on I became uneasy. Again and 
again I urged that a careful examination be made of 
our affairs, and that reports be laid before us which 
we could clearly understand ; but Mr. Cornell, always op- 
timistic, assured me that all was going well, and the 
matter was deferred. Finally, I succeeded in impress- 
ing upon my colleagues in the board the absolute necessity 
of an investigation. It was made, and a condition of 
things was revealed which at first seemed appalling. The 
charter of the university made the board of trustees per- 
sonally liable for any debt over fifty thousand dollars, and 
we now discovered that we were owing more than three 
times that amount. At this Mr. Cornell made a character- 
istic proposal. He said: "I will pay half of this debt if 
you can raise the other half. ' ' It seemed impossible. Our 
friends had been called upon so constantly and for such 
considerable sums that it seemed vain to ask them for 



ROCKS, STORMS, AND PERIL -1868 -1874 415 

more. But we brought together at Albany a few of the 
most devoted, and in fifteen minutes the whole amount was 
subscribed : four members of the board of trustees agreed 
to give each twenty thousand dollars; and this, with Mr. 
Cornell's additional subscription, furnished the sum 
needed. 

Then took place one of the things which led me later in 
life, looking back over the history of the university, to 
say that what had seemed to be our worst calamities 
had generally proved to be our greatest blessings. Among 
these I have been accustomed to name the monstrous 
McGuire attack in the Assembly on Mr. Cornell, which 
greatly disheartened me for the moment, but which even- 
tually led the investigation committee not only to show 
to the world Mr. Cornell's complete honesty and self- 
sacrifice, but to recommend the measures which finally 
transferred the endowment fund from the State to the 
trustees, thus strengthening the institution greatly. So 
now a piece of good luck came out of this unexpected debt. 
As soon as the subscription was made, Mr. George W. 
Schuyler, treasurer of the university, in drawing up the 
deed of gift, ended it with words to the following effect : 
"And it is hereby agreed by the said Ezra Cornell, Henry 
W. Sage, Hiram Sibley, John McGraw, and Andrew D. 
White, that in case the said university shall ever be in 
position to repay their said subscriptions, then and in that 
case the said entire sum of one hundred and sixty thousand 
dollars shall be repaid into a university fund for the cre- 
ation of fellowships and scholarships in the said univer- 
sity." A general laugh arose among the subscribers, Mr. 
McGraw remarking that this was rather offhand dealing 
with us ; but all took it in good part and signed the agree- 
ment. It is certain that not one of us then expected in his 
lifetime to see the university able to repay the money ; but, 
within a few years, as our lands were sold at better prices 
than we expected, the university was in condition to make 
restitution. At first some of the trustees demurred to 
investing so large a sum in fellowships and scholarships, 



416 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -VIII 

and my first effort to carry through a plan to this effect 
failed ; but at the next meeting I was successful ; and so, in 
this apparently calamitous revelation of debt began that 
system of university fellowships and scholarships which 
has done so much for the development of higher instruc- 
tion at Cornell. 

So far as the university treasury was concerned, mat- 
ters thenceforth went on well. Never again did the uni- 
versity incur any troublesome debt ; from that day to this 
its finances have been so managed as to excite the admi- 
ration even of men connected with the most successful and 
best managed corporations of our country. But financial 
difficulties far more serious than the debt just referred 
to arose in a different quarter. In assuming the ex- 
penses of locating and managing the university lands, 
protecting them, paying taxes upon them, and the like, Mr. 
Cornell had taken upon himself a fearful load, and it 
pressed upon him heavily. But this was not all. It was, 
indeed, far from the worst; for, in his anxiety to bring 
the university town into easy connection with the railway 
system of the State, he had invested very largely in local 
railways leading into Ithaca. Under these circumstances, 
while he made heroic efforts and sacrifices, his relations 
to the comptroller of the State, who still had in his charge 
the land scrip of the university, became exceedingly 
difficult. At the very crisis of this difficulty Mr. Cornell's 
hard work proved too much for him, and he lay down to 
die. The university affairs, so far as the land-grant fund 
was concerned, seemed hopelessly entangled with his own 
and with those of the State: it seemed altogether likely 
that at his death the institution would be subjected to 
years of litigation, to having its endowment tied up in the 
courts, and to a suspension of its operations. Happily, we 
had as our adviser Francis Miles Finch, since justice of 
the Court of Appeals of the State, and now dean of the 
Law School— a man of noble character, of wonderfully 
varied gifts, an admirable legal adviser, devoted person- 
ally to Mr. Cornell, and no less devoted to the university. 




'>'<///,// //;///''/, J f/// , /,S'/A' 



ROCKS, STORMS, AND PERIL-1868-1874 117 

He set at work to disentangle the business relations of 
Mr. Cornell with the university, and of both with the State. 
Every member of the board, every member of Mr. Cor- 
nell's family,— indeed, every member of the community,— 
knew him to be honest, faithful, and capable. He labored 
to excellent purpose, and in due time the principal finan- 
cial members of the board were brought together at Ithaca 
to consider his solution of the problem. It was indeed 
a dark day; we were still under the shadow of ''Black 
Friday," the worst financial calamity in the history of 
the nation. Mr. Finch showed us that the first thing 
needful was to raise about two hundred and fifty thou- 
sand dollars, which could be tendered to the comptroller 
of the State in cash, who, on receiving it, would im- 
mediately turn over to the trustees the land scrip, which 
it was all-important should be in our possession at the 
death of Mr. Cornell. He next pointed out the measures 
to be taken in separating the interests of the univer- 
sity from Mr. Cornell's estate, and these were provided 
for. The sum required for obtaining control of the land 
scrip was immediately subscribed as a loan, virtually 
without security, by members of the board then present ; 
though at that depressing financial period of the country 
strong men went about with the best of securities, unable 
to borrow money upon them. In a few days Mr. Cornell 
was dead ; but the university was safe. Mr. Finch 's plan 
worked well in every particular ; and this, which appeared 
likely to be a great calamity, resulted in the board of 
trustees obtaining control of the landed endowment of 
the institution, without which it must have failed. But 
the weeks while these negotiations were going on were 
gloomy indeed for me ; rarely in my life have I been so 
unhappy. That crisis of our fate was the winter of 1874. 
The weather was cold and depressing, my family far off in 
Syracuse. My main refuge then, as at sundry other times 
of deep personal distress, was in work. In the little south- 
west room of the president's house, hardly yet finished and 
still unfurnished, I made my headquarters. Every morn- 

I.— 27 



418 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-VIII 

ing a blazing fire was lighted on the hearth; every day I 
devoted myself to university work and to study for my lec- 
tures. Happily, my subject interested me deeply. It was 
"The Age of Discovery" ; and, surrounded with my books, 
I worked on, forgetful, for the time, of the December 
storms howling about the house, and of the still more fear- 
ful storms beating against the university. Three new lec- 
tures having been thus added to my course on the Renais- 
sance period, I delivered them to my class; and, just as I 
was finishing the last of them, a messenger came to tell me 
that Mr. Cornell was dying. Dismissing my students, I 
hurried to his house, but was just too late ; a few minutes 
before my arrival his eyes had closed in death. But his 
work was done— nobly done. As I gazed upon his dead 
face on that 9th of December, 1874, I remember well 
that my first feeling was that he was happily out of the 
struggle ; and that, wherever he might be, I could wish to 
be still with him. But there was no time for unavailing 
regrets. We laid him reverently and affectionately to 
rest, in the midst of the scenes so dear to him, within the 
sound of the university chimes he so loved to hear, and 
pressed on with the work. 

A few years later came another calamity, not, like the 
others, touching the foundations and threatening the ex- 
istence of the university, yet hardly less crushing at the 
time ; indeed, with two exceptions, it was the most depress- 
ing I have ever encountered. At the establishment of the 
university in Ithaca, one of the charter trustees who 
showed himself especially munificent to the new enterprise 
was Mr. John McGraw. One morning, while I was in the 
midst of the large collection of books sent by me from 
Europe, endeavoring to bring them into some order be- 
fore the opening day, his daughter, Miss Jenny McGraw, 
came in, and I had the pleasure of showing her some of 
our more interesting treasures. She was a woman of kind 
and thoughtful nature, had traveled in her own country 
and abroad to good purpose, and was evidently deeply 
interested. Next day her father met me and said : ' ' Well, 



ROCKS, STORMS, AND PERIL -18GS -1874 419 

you are pressing us all into the service. Jenny came home 
yesterday, and said very earnestly, 'I wish that I could 
do something to help on the university'; to which I re- 
plied, 'Very well. Do anything you like; I shall be glad 
to see you join in the work.' " The result was the gift 
from her of the chime of bells which was rung at the 
opening of the university, and which, with the additions 
afterward made to it, have done beautiful service. On the 
bells she thus gave were inscribed the verses of the ninety- 
fifth chant of Tennyson's "In Memoriam"; and some 
weeks afterward I had the pleasure of placing in her 
hands what she considered an ample return for her gift— 
a friendly letter from Tennyson himself, containing some 
of the stanzas written out in his own hand. So began her 
interest in the university— an interest which never fal- 
tered. 

A few years later she married one of our professors, an 
old friend of mine, and her marriage proved exceedingly 
happy; but, alas, its happiness was destined to be brief! 
Less than two years after her wedding day she was 
brought home from Europe to breathe her last in her 
husband's cottage on the university grounds, and was 
buried from the beautiful residence which she had built 
hard by, and had stored with works of art in every field. 

At the opening of her will it was found that, while she 
had made ample provision for all who were near and dear 
to her, and for a multitude of charities, she had left to the 
university very nearly two millions of dollars, a portion 
of which was to be used for a student hospital, and the 
bulk of the remainder, amounting to more than a mil- 
lion and a half, for the university library. Her husband 
joined most heartily in her purpose, and all seemed ready 
for carrying it out in a way which would have made 
Cornell University, in that respect, unquestionably the 
foremost on the American continent. As soon as this mu- 
nificent bequest was announced, I asked our leading law- 
yer, Judge Douglas Boardman, whether our charter al- 
lowed the university to take it, calling his attention to the 



420 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -VIII 

fact that, like most of its kind in the State of New York, 
it restricted the amount of property which the university 
could hold, and reminding him that we had already ex- 
ceeded the limit thus allowed. To this he answered that 
the restriction was intended simply to prevent the endow- 
ment of corporations beyond what the legislature might 
think best for the commonwealth; that if the attorney- 
general did not begin proceedings against us to prevent 
our taking the property, no one else could; and that he 
would certainly never trouble us. 

In view of the fact that Judge Boardman had long ex- 
perience and was at the time judge of the Supreme Court 
of the State, I banished all thought of difficulty; though 
I could not but regret that, as he drew Mrs. Fiske's will, 
and at the same time knew the restrictions of our charter, 
he had not given us a hint, so that we could have had our 
powers of holding property enlarged. It would have been 
perfectly easy to have the restrictions removed, and, as 
a matter of fact, the legislature shortly afterward removed 
them entirely, without the slightest objection; but this ac- 
tion was too late to enable us to take the McGraw-Fiske 
bequest. 

About a fortnight after these assurances that we were 
perfectly safe, Judge Boardman sent for me, and on meet- 
ing him I found that he had discovered a decision of the 
Court of Appeals— rendered a few years before— which 
might prevent our accepting the bequest. 

But there was still much hope of inducing the main heirs 
to allow the purpose of Mrs. Fiske to be carried out. With- 
out imputing any evil intentions to any person, I fully be- 
lieve—indeed, I may say I know— that, had the matter 
been placed in my hands, this vast endowment would have 
been saved to us ; but it was not so to be. Personal com- 
plications had arisen between the main heir and two of 
our trustees which increased the embarrassments of the 
situation. It is needless to go into them now ; let all that 
be buried ; but it may at least be said that day and night I 
labored to make some sort of arrangement between the 



ROCKS, STORMS, AND PERIL— 1868-1874 421 

principal heir and the university, and finally took the 
steamer for Europe in order to meet him and see if sonic 
arrangement could be made. But personal bitterness had 
entered too largely into the contest, and my efforts were 
in vain. Though our legal advisers insisted that the uni- 
versity was sure of winning the case, we lost it in every 
court— first in the Supreme Court of the State, then in the 
Court of Appeals, and finally in the Supreme Court of tin s 
United States. To me all this was most distressing. The 
creation of such a library would have been the culmina- 
tion of my work; I could then have sung my Nunc 
dimittis. But the calamity was not without its compensa- 
tions. When the worst was known, Mr. Henry W. Sage, 
a lifelong friend of Mr. McGraw and of Mrs. Fiske, came 
to my house, evidently with the desire to console me. He 
said: "Don't allow this matter to prey upon you; Jenny 
shall have her library; it shall yet be built and well en- 
dowed." He was true to his promise. On the final de- 
cision against us, he added to his previous large gifts to the 
university a new donation of over six hundred thousand 
dollars, half of which went to the erection of the present 
library building, and the other half to an endowment fund. 
Professor Fiske also joined munificently in enlarging the 
library, adding various gifts which his practised eye 
showed him were needed, and, among these, two collec- 
tions, one upon Dante and one in Romance literature, each 
the best of its kind in the United States. Mr. William 
Sage also added the noted library in German literature 
of Professor Zarncke of Leipsic ; and various others con- 
tributed collections, larger or smaller, so that the library 
has become, as a whole, one of the best in the country. As 
I visit it, there often come back vividly to me remem- 
brances of my college days, when I was wont to enter the 
Yale library and stand amazed in the midst of the sixty 
thousand volumes which had been brought together dur- 
ing one hundred and fifty years. They filled me with awe. 
But Cornell University has now, within forty years from 
its foundation, accumulated very nearly three hundred 



422 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-VIII 

thousand volumes, many among them of far greater value 
than anything contained in the Yale library of my day; 
and as I revise these lines comes news that the will of Pro- 
fessor Fiske, who recently died at Frankfort-on-the-Main, 
gives to the library all of his splendid collections in Italian 
history and literature at Florence, with the addition of 
nearly half a million of dollars. 

Beside these financial and other troubles, another class 
of difficulties beset us, which were, at times, almost as vexa- 
tious. These were the continued attacks made by good 
men in various parts of the State and Nation, who thought 
they saw in Cornell a stronghold— first, of ideas in re- 
ligion antagonistic to their own ; and secondly, of ideas in 
education likely to injure their sectarian colleges. From 
the day when our charter was under consideration at 
Albany they never relented, and at times they were violent. 
The reports of my inauguration speech were, in sundry 
denominational newspapers, utterly distorted; far and 
wide was spread the story that Mr. Cornell and myself 
were attempting to establish an institution for the propa- 
gation of ' ' atheism ' ' and ' ' infidelity. ' ' Certainly nothing 
could have been further from the purpose of either of us. 
He had aided, and loved to aid, every form of Christianity ; 
I was myself a member of a Christian church and a trustee 
of a denominational college. Everything that we could do 
in the way of reasoning with our assailants was in vain. 
In talking with students from time to time, I learned that, 
in many cases, their pastors had earnestly besought them 
to go to any other institution rather than to Cornell ; re- 
ports of hostile sermons reached us ; bitter diatribes con- 
stantly appeared in denominational newspapers, and es- 
pecially virulent were various addresses given on public 
occasions in the sectarian colleges which felt themselves 
injured by the creation of an unsectarian institution on so 
large a scale. Typical was the attack made by an eminent 
divine who, having been installed as president over one 
of the smaller colleges of the State, thought it his duty 
to denounce me asan" atheist, ' ' and to do this especially 



ROCKS, STORMS, AND PERIL- 1868-1874 423 

in the city where I had formerly resided, and in the church 
which some of my family attended. I took no notice of the 
charge, and pursued the even tenor of my way; but the 
press took it up, and it recoiled upon the man who made it. 

Perhaps the most comical of these attacks was one made 
by a clergyman of some repute before the Presbyterian 
Synod at Auburn in western New York. This gentleman, 
having attended one or two of the lectures by Agassiz 
before our scientific students, immediately rushed off to 
this meeting of his brethren, and insisted that the great 
naturalist was "preaching atheism and Darwinism" at the 
university. He seemed about to make a decided impres- 
sion, when there arose a very dear old friend of mine, the 
Rev. Dr. Sherman Canfield, pastor of the First Presby- 
terian Church in Syracuse, who, fortunately, was a scholar 
abreast of current questions. Dr. Canfield quietly re- 
marked that he was amazed to learn that Agassiz had, in 
so short a time, become an atheist, and not less astonished 
to hear that he had been converted to Darwinism; that 
up to that moment he had considered Agassiz a deeply 
religious man, and also the foremost— possibly, indeed, 
the last— great opponent of the Darwinian hypothesis. He 
therefore suggested that the resolution denouncing Cor- 
nell University brought in by his reverend brother be 
laid on the table to await further investigation. It was 
thus disposed of, and, in that region at least, it was never 
heard of more. Pleasing is it to me to chronicle the fact 
that, at Dr. Canfield 's death, he left to the university a 
very important part of his library. 

From another denominational college came an attack 
on Goldwin Smith. One of its professors published, in 
the Protestant Episcopal "Gospel Messenger," an attack 
upon the university for calling into its faculty a "West- 
minster Reviewer"; the fact being that Goldwin Smith 
was at that time a member of the Church of England, 
and had never written for the "Westminster Review' : 
save in reply to one of its articles. So, too, when there 
were sculptured on the stone seat which he had ordered 



424 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-VIII 

carved for the university grounds the words, "Above all 
nations is humanity," there came an outburst. Sundry 
pastors, in their anxiety for the souls of the students, could 
not tell whether this inscription savored more of atheism 
or of pantheism. Its simple significance— that the claims 
of humanity are above those of nationality— entirely es- 
caped them. Pulpit cushions were beaten in all parts of 
the State against us, and solemn warnings were renewed 
to students by their pastors to go anywhere for their edu- 
cation rather than to Cornell. Curiously, this fact became 
not only a gratuitous, but an effective, advertisement : 
many of the brightest men who came to us in those days 
confessed to me that these attacks first directed their atten- 
tion to us. 

We also owed some munificent gifts to this same cause. 
In two cases gentlemen came forward and made large ad- 
ditions to our endowment as their way of showing disbe- 
lief in these attacks or contempt for them. 

Still, the attacks were vexatious even when impotent. 
Ingenious was the scheme carried out by a zealous young 
clergyman settled for a short time in Ithaca. Coming 
one day into my private library, he told me that he was 
very anxious to borrow some works showing the more 
recent tendencies of liberal thought. I took him to one 
of my book-cases, in which, by the side of the works of 
Bossuet and Fenelon and Thomas Arnold and Robertson 
of Brighton, he found those of Channing, Parker, Renan, 
Strauss, and the men who, in the middle years of the last 
century, were held to represent advanced thought. He 
looked them over for some time, made some excuse for not 
borrowing any of them just then, and I heard nothing 
more from him until there came, in a denominational 
newspaper, his eloquent denunciation of me for possessing 
such books. Impressive, too, must have been the utter- 
ances of an eminent " revivalist " who, in various West- 
ern cities, loudly asserted that Mr. Cornell had died la- 
menting his inability to base his university on atheism, 
and that I had fled to Europe declaring that in America 
an infidel university was, as yet, an impossibility. 



ROCKS, STORMS, AND PERIL- 1868-1874 425 

For a long time I stood on the defensive, hoping that 
the provisions made for the growth of religious life 
among the students might show that we were not so 
wicked as we were represented; but, as all this seemed 
only to embitter our adversaries, I finally determined to 
take the offensive, and having been invited to deliver a 
lecture in the great hall of the Cooper Institute at New 
York, took as my subject "The Battle-fields of Science' 
In this my effort was to show how, in the supposed in- 
terest of religion, earnest and excellent men, for many 
ages and in many countries, had bitterly opposed various 
advances in science and in education, and that such oppo- 
sition had resulted in most evil results, not only to science 
and education, but to religion. This lecture was published 
in full, next day, in the "New York Tribune"; extracts 
from it were widely copied; it was asked for by lecture 
associations in many parts of the country ; grew first into 
two magazine articles, then into a little book which was 
widely circulated at home, reprinted in England with a 
preface by Tyndall, and circulated on the Continent in 
translations, was then expanded into a series of articles in 
the "Popular Science Monthly," and finally wrought into 
my book on "The Warfare of Science with Theology." 
In each of these forms my argument provoked attack ; but 
all this eventually created a reaction in our favor, even in 
quarters where it was least expected. One evidence of this 
touched me deeply. I had been invited to repeat the 
lecture at New Haven, and on arriving there found a 
large audience of Yale professors and students ; but, most 
surprising of all, in the chair for the evening, no less a 
personage than my revered instructor, Dr. Theodore 
Dwight Woolsey, president of the university. He was of 
a deeply religious nature ; and certainly no man was ever, 
under all circumstances, more true to his convictions of 
duty. To be welcomed by him was encouragement indeed. 
He presented me cordially to the audience, and at the 
close of my address made a brief speech, in which he 
thoroughly supported my positions and bade me God- 
speed. Few things in my life have so encouraged me. 



426 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -VIII 

Attacks, of course, continued for a considerable time, 
some of them violent; but, to my surprise and satisfac- 
tion, when my articles were finally brought together in 
book form, the opposition seemed to have exhausted itself. 
There were even indications of approval in some quarters 
where the articles composing it had previously been at- 
tacked; and I received letters thoroughly in sympathy 
with the work from a number of eminent Christian men, 
including several doctors of divinity, and among these 
two bishops, one of the Anglican and one of the American 
Episcopal Church. 

The final result was that slander against the university 
for irreligion was confined almost entirely to very nar- 
row circles, of waning influence; and my hope is that, 
as its formative ideas have been thus welcomed by various 
leaders of thought, and have filtered down through the 
press among the people at large, they have done some- 
thing to free the path of future laborers in the field of 
science and education from such attacks as those which 
Cornell was obliged to suffer. 



CHAPTER XXV 

CONCLUDING YEARS— 1881-1885 

TO this work of pressing on the development of the 
leading departments in the university, establishing 
various courses of instruction, and warding off attacks as 
best I could, was added the daily care of the regular and 
steady administration of affairs, and in this my duty was 
to cooperate with the trustees, the faculty, and the stu- 
dents. The trustees formed a body differently composed 
from any organization for university government up to 
that time. As a rule, such boards in the United States 
were, in those days, self-perpetuating. A man once elected 
into one of them was likely to remain a trustee during 
his natural life ; and the result had been much dry-rot and, 
frequently, a very sleepy condition of things in American 
collegiate and university administration. In drawing the 
Cornell charter, we provided for a governing body by first 
naming a certain number of high State officers— the gov- 
ernor, lieutenant-governor, speaker, president of the State 
Agricultural Society, and others ; next, a certain number 
of men of special fitness, who were to be elected by the 
board itself; and, finally, a certain proportion elected by 
the alumni from their own number. Beside these, the eld- 
est male lineal descendant of Mr. Cornell, and the presi- 
dent of the university, were trustees ex officio. At the first 
nomination of the charter trustees, Mr. Cornell proposed 
that he should name half the number and I the other half. 
This was done, and pains were taken to select men accus- 
tomed to deal with large affairs. A very important pro- 

427 



428 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -IX 

vision was also made limiting their term of office to five 
years. 

During the first nine years the chairmanship of the 
board was held by Mr. Cornell, but at his death Mr. 
Henry W. Sage was elected to it, who, as long as he lived, 
discharged its duties with the greatest conscientiousness 
and ability. To the finances of the university he gave 
that shrewd care which had enabled him to build up his 
own immense business. Freely and without compensa- 
tion, he bestowed upon the institution labor for which any 
great business corporation would have gladly paid him 
a very large sum. For the immediate management, in 
the intervals of the quarterly meetings of the board, an 
executive committee of the trustees was created, which 
also worked to excellent purpose. 

The faculty, which was at first comparatively small, 
was elected by the trustees upon my nomination. In de- 
ciding on candidates, I put no trust in mere paper testi- 
monials, no matter from what source; but always saw 
the candidates themselves, talked with them, and then 
secured confidential communications regarding them from 
those who knew them best. The results were good, and 
to this hour I cherish toward the faculty, as toward the 
trustees, a feeling of the deepest gratitude. Throughout 
all the hard work of that period they supported me heart- 
ily and devotedly; without their devotion and aid, my 
whole administration would have been an utter failure. 

To several of these I have alluded elsewhere; but one 
should be especially mentioned to whom every member of 
the faculty must feel a debt of gratitude— Professor Hi- 
ram Corson. No one has done more to redress the balance 
between the technical side and the humanities. His writ- 
ings, lectures, and readings have been a solace and an in- 
spiration to many of us, both in the faculty and 
among the students. It was my remembrance of the effect 
of his readings that caused me to urge, at a public address 
at Yale in 1903, the establishment not only of professor- 
ships but of readerships in English literature in all our 



CONCLUDING YEARS-1881-1885 429 

greater institutions, urging especially that the readers 
thus called should every day present, with little if any note 
or comment, the masterpieces of our literature. I can 
think of no provision which would do more to humanize 
the great body of students, especially in these days when 
other branches are so largely supplanting classical studies, 
than such a continuous presentation of the treasures of our 
. language by a thoroughly good reader. What is needed is 
not more talk about literature, but the literature itself. 
And here let me recall an especial service of Professor 
Corson which may serve as a hint to men and women of 
light and leading in the higher education of our country. 
On sundry celebrations of Founder's Day, and on various 
other commemorative occasions, he gave in the university 
chapel recitals from Milton, Wordsworth, Tennyson, and 
other poets of the larger inspiration, while organ inter- 
ludes were given from the great masters of music. Litera- 
ture and music were thus made to do beautiful service as 
yokefellows. It has been my lot to enjoy in various capi- 
tals of the modern world many of the things which men 
who have a deep feeling for art most rejoice in, but never 
have I known anything more uplifting and ennobling than 
these simple commemorations. 

From one evil which has greatly injured many Ameri- 
can university faculties, especially in the middle and west- 
ern States, we were virtually free. This evil was the preva- 
lence of feuds between professors. Throughout a large 
part of the nineteenth century they were a great affliction. 
Twice the State University of Michigan was nearly 
wrecked by them ; for several years they nearly paralyzed 
two or three of the New York colleges; and in one of 
these a squabble between sundry professors and the 
widow of a former president was almost fatal. Another 
of the larger colleges in the same State lost a very emi- 
nent president from the same cause; and still another, 
which had done excellent work, was dragged down and 
for years kept down by a feud between its two fore- 
most professors. In my day, at Yale, whenever there 



430 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -IX 

was a sudden influx of students, and it was asked whence 
they came, the answer always was, ' ' Another Western col- 
lege has burst up"; and the "burst up" had resulted, 
almost without exception, from faculty quarrels. 

In another chapter I have referred to one of these ex- 
plosions which, having blown out of a Western univer- 
sity the president, the entire board of trustees, and all 
the assistant professors and instructors, convulsed the 
State for years. I have known gifted members of facul- 
ties, term after term, substitute for their legitimate work 
impassioned appeals to their religious denominations, 
through synods or conferences, and to the public at large 
through the press,— their quarrels at last entangling other 
professors and large numbers of students. 

In my "Plan of Organization" I called attention to this 
evil, and laid down the principle that ' ' the presence of no 
professor, however gifted, is so valuable as peace and har- 
mony." The trustees acquiesced in this view, and from 
the first it was understood that, at any cost, quarrels must 
be prevented. The result was that we never had any which 
were serious, nor had we any in the board of trustees. One 
of the most satisfactory of all my reflections is that I never 
had any ill relations with any member of either body ; that 
there was never one of them whom I did not look upon as 
a friend. My simple rule for the government of my own 
conduct was that I had no time for squabbling ; that life 
was not long enough for quarrels; and this became, I 
think, the feeling among all of us who were engaged in the 
founding and building of the university. 

As regards the undergraduates, I initiated a system 
which, so far as is known to me, was then new in American 
institutions of learning. At the beginning of every year, 
and also whenever any special occasion seemed to require 
it, I summoned the whole body of students and addressed 
them at length on the condition of the university, on their 
relations to it, and on their duties to it as well as to them- 
selves; and in all these addresses endeavored to bring 
home to them the idea that under our system of giving to 



CONCLUDING YEAKS- 1881-1885 431 

the graduates votes in the election of trustees, and to repre- 
sentative alumni seats in the governing board, the whole 
student body had become, in a new sense, part of the in- 
stitution, and were to be held, to a certain extent, respon- 
sible for it. I think that all conversant with the history 
of the university will agree that the results of thus tak- 
ing the students into the confidence of the governing 
board were happy. These results were shown largely 
among the undergraduates, and even more strongly 
among the alumni. In all parts of the country alumni 
associations were organized, and here again I found a 
source of strength. These associations held reunions dur- 
ing every winter, and at least one banquet, at which the 
president of the university was invited to be present. So 
far as possible, I attended these meetings, and made use 
of them to strengthen the connection of the graduates with 
their alma mater. 

The administrative care of the university was very en- 
grossing. With study of the various interests combined 
within its organization; with the attendance on meetings 
of trustees, executive committee, and faculty, and dis- 
cussion of important questions in each of these bodies; 
with the general oversight of great numbers of students 
in many departments and courses; with the constant ne- 
cessity of keeping the legislature and the State informed 
as to the reasons of every movement, of meeting hostile 
forces pressing us on every side, of keeping in touch with 
our graduates throughout the country, there was much 
to be done. Trying also, at times, to a man never in 
robust health was the duty of addressing various as- 
semblies of most dissimilar purposes. Within the space 
of two or three years I find mention in my diaries of a 
large number of addresses which, as president of the uni- 
versity, I could not refuse to give; among these, those 
before the legislature of the State, on Technical Educa- 
tion ; before committees of Congress, on Agriculture and 
Technical Instruction ; before the Johns Hopkins Univer- 
sity, on Education with Reference to Political Life ; before 



432 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -IX 

the National Teachers' Association at Washington, on the 
Relation of the Universities to the State School Systems ; 
before the American Social Science Association of New 
York, on Sundry Reforms in University Management ; be- 
fore the National Association of Teachers at Detroit, on 
the Relations of Universities to Colleges; before four 
thousand people at Cleveland, on the Education of the 
Freedmen; before the Adalbert College, on the Concen- 
tration of Means for the Higher Education; before the 
State Teachers' Association at Saratoga, on Education 
and Democracy; at the Centennial banquet at Philadel- 
phia, on the American Universities; and before my 
class at Yale University, on the Message of the Nine- 
teenth Century to the Twentieth; besides many public 
lectures before colleges, schools, and special assemblies. 
There seemed more danger of wearing out than of rusting 
out, especially as some of these discourses provoked at- 
tacks which must be answered. Time also was required 
for my duties as president of the American Social Science 
Association, which lasted several years, and of the Ameri- 
can Historical Society, which, though less engrossing, im- 
posed for a time much responsibility. Then, too, there 
was another duty, constantly pressing, which I had es- 
pecially at heart. The day had not yet arrived when the 
president of the university could be released from his 
duties as a professor. I had, indeed, no wish for such 
release ; for, of all my duties, that of meeting my senior 
students face to face in the lecture-room and interesting 
them in the studies which most interested me, and which 
seemed most likely to fit them to go forth and bring the 
influence of the university to bear for good upon the coun- 
try at large, was that which I liked best. The usual rou- 
tine of administrative cares was almost hateful to me, 
and I delegated minor details, as far as possible, to those 
better fitted to take charge of them— especially to the vice- 
president and registrar and secretary of the faculty. But 
my lecture-room I loved. Of all occupations, I know of 
none more satisfactory than that of a university pro- 



CONCLUDING YEARS-1881-1885 433 

fessor who feels that he is in right relations with his 
students, that they welcome what he has to give them, 
and that their hearts and minds are developed, day by 
day, by the work which he most prizes. I may justly say 
that this pleasure was mine at the University of Michi- 
gan and at Cornell University. It was at times hard to 
satisfy myself; for next to the pleasure of directing 
younger minds is the satisfaction of fitting one's self to 
do so. During my ordinary working-day there was little 
time for keeping abreast with the latest and best in my 
department; but there were odds and ends of time, day 
and night, and especially during my frequent journeys by 
rail and steamer to meet engagements at distant points, 
when I always carried with me a collection of books which 
seemed to me most fitted for my purpose; and as I had 
trained myself to be a rapid reader, these excursions gave 
me many opportunities. 

But some of these journeys were not well suited to 
study. During the first few years of the university, be- 
ing obliged to live in the barracks on the University Hill 
under many difficulties, I could not have my family with 
me, and from Saturday afternoon until Monday morning 
was given to them at Syracuse. In summer the journey 
by Cayuga Lake to the New York Central train gave me 
excellent opportunity for reading and even for writing. 
But in winter it was different. None of the railways now 
connecting the university town with the outside world 
had then been constructed, save that to the southward; 
and, therefore, during those long winters there was at 
least twice a week a dreary drive in wagon or sleigh, 
sometimes taking all the better hours of the day, in order 
to reach the train from Binghamton to Syracuse. Com- 
ing out of my lecture-room Friday evening or Saturday 
morning, I was conveyed through nearly twenty-five miles 
of mud and slush or sleet and snow. On one journey my 
sleigh was upset three times in the drifts which made the 
roads almost impassable, and it required nearly ten hours 
to make the entire journey. The worst of it was that. 

I.— 28 



434 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT- IX 

coming out of my heated lecture-room and taking an open 
sleigh at Ithaca, or coming out of the heated cars and tak- 
ing it at Cortland, my throat became affected, and for 
some years gave me serious trouble. 

But my greater opportunities— those which kept me 
from becoming a mere administrative machine— were af- 
forded by various vacations, longer or shorter. During the 
summer vacation, mainly passed at Saratoga and the sea- 
side, there was time for consecutive studies with refer- 
ence to my work, my regular lectures, and occasional ad- 
dresses. But this was not all. At three different times I 
was summoned from university work to public duties. 
The first of these occasions was when I was appointed 
by President Grant one of the commissioners to Santo 
Domingo. This appointment came when I was thoroughly 
worn out with university work, and it gave me a chance 
of great value physically and intellectually. During four 
months I was in a world of thought as different from 
anything that I had before known as that wonderful is- 
land in the Caribbean Sea is different in its climate from 
the hills of central New York swept by the winds of 
December. And I had to deal with men very different 
from the trustees, faculty, and students of Cornell. This 
episode certainly broadened my view as a professor, and 
strengthened me for administrative duties. 

The third of these long vacations was in 1879-80-81, 
when President Hayes appointed me minister plenipo- 
tentiary in Berlin. My stay at that post, and especially 
my acquaintance with leaders in German thought and with 
professors at many of the Continental universities, did 
much for me in many ways. 

It may be thought strange that I could thus absent my- 
self from the university, but these absences really enabled 
me to maintain my connection with the institution. My 
constitution, though elastic, was not robust; an uninter- 
rupted strain would have broken me, while variety of 
occupation strengthened me. Throughout my whole life 
I have found the best of all medicines to be travel and 



^J 



CONCLUDING YEARS-1881-1885 435 

change of scene. Another example of this was during my 
stay of a year abroad as commissioner at the Paris Ex- 
position. During that stay I prepared several additions 
to my course of general lectures, and during my official 
stay in Berlin added largely to my course on German his- 
tory. But the change of work saved me: though minor 
excursions were frequently given up to work with book 
and pen, I returned from them refreshed and all the more 
ready for administrative duties. 

As to the effect of such absences upon the university, 
I may say that it accorded with the theory which I held 
tenaciously regarding the administration of the university 
at that formative period. I had observed in various 
American colleges that a fundamental and most injurious 
error was made in relieving trustees and faculty from 
responsibility, and concentrating all in the president. The 
result, in many of these institutions, had been a sort of 
atrophy,— the trustees and faculty being, whenever an 
emergency arose, badly informed as to the affairs of their 
institutions, and really incapable of managing them. This 
state of things was the most serious drawback to Presi- 
dent Tappan's administration at the University of Michi- 
gan, and was the real cause of the catastrophe which 
finally led to his break with the regents of that university, 
and his departure to Europe, never to return. Worse still 
was the downfall of Union College, Schenectady, from 
the position which it had held before the death of Presi- 
dent Nott. Under Drs. Nott and Tappan the tendency in 
the institutions above named was to make the trustees 
in all administrative matters mere ciphers, and to make 
the faculty more and more incapable of administering dis- 
cipline or conducting current university business. That 
system concentrated all knowledge of university affairs 
and all power of every sort in the hands of the president, 
and relieved trustees and faculty from everything except 
nominal responsibility. From the very beginning I de- 
termined to prevent this state of things at Cornell. Great 
powers were indeed given me by the trustees, and I used 



436 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-IX 

them ; but in the whole course of my administration I con- 
stantly sought to keep ample legislative powers in the 
board of trustees and in the faculty. I felt that the uni- 
versity, to be successful, should not depend on the life and 
conduct of any one man ; that every one of those called to 
govern and to manage it, whether president or professor, 
should feel that he had powers and responsibilities in its 
daily administration. Therefore it was that I inserted in 
the fundamental laws of the university a provision that 
the confirmation by the trustees of all nominations of 
professors should be by ballot ; so that it might never be in 
the power of the president or any other trustee unduly to 
influence selections for such positions. I also exerted my- 
self to provide that in calling new professors they should 
be nominated by the president, not of his own will, but 
with the advice of the faculty and should be confirmed by 
the trustees. I also provided that the elections of students 
to fellowships and scholarships and the administration of 
discipline should be decided by the faculty, and by bal- 
lot. The especial importance of this latter point will not 
escape those conversant with university management. I 
insisted that the faculty should not be merely a committee 
to register the decrees of the president, but that it should 
have full legislative powers to discuss and to decide uni- 
versity affairs. Nor did I allow it to become a body 
merely advisory: I not only insisted that it should have 
full legislative powers, but that it should be steadily 
trained in the use of them. On my nomination the trustees 
elected from the faculty three gentlemen who had shown 
themselves especially fitted for administrative work to the 
positions of vice-president, registrar, and secretary; and 
thenceforth the institution was no longer dependent on any 
one man. To the first of these positions was elected Pro- 
fessor William Channing Russel ; to the second, Professor 
William Dexter Wilson ; to the third, Professor George C. 
Caldwell ; and each discharged his duties admirably. 

Of the last two of these I have already spoken, and here 
some record should be made of the services rendered by 



CONCLUDING YEARS -1881-1885 437 

Dr. Russel. He was among those chosen for the instruct- 
ing body at the very beginning. Into all of his work he 
brought a perfect loyalty to truth, with the trained facul- 
ties of a lawyer in seeking it and the fearlessness of an 
apostle in announcing it. As to his success in this latter 
field, there may be given, among other testimonies, that of 
an unwilling witness— a young scholar of great strength 
of mind, who, though he had taken deep offense at sundry 
acts of the professor and never forgiven them, yet, after a 
year in the historical lecture-rooms of the University of 
Berlin, said to me : "I have attended here the lectures of 
all the famous professors of history, and have heard few 
who equal Professor Russel and none who surpass him in 
ascertaining the really significant facts and in clearly pre- 
senting them." 

In the vice-presidency of the faculty he also rendered 
services of the greatest value. No one was more devoted 
than he to the university or more loyal to his associates. 
There was, indeed, some friction. His cousin, James Rus- 
sell Lowell, once asked me regarding this, and my reply 
was that it reminded me of a character in the "Biglow 
Papers ' ' who ' ' had a dre 'df ul winnin ' way to make folks 
hate him." This was doubtless an overstatement, but it 
contained truth ; for at times there was perhaps lacking in 
his handling of delicate questions something of the suavi- 
ter in modo. His honest frankness was worthy of all 
praise ; but I once found it necessary to write him : ' ' I am 
sorry that you have thought it best to send me so unspar- 
ing a letter, but no matter ; write me as many as you like ; 
they will never break our friendship ; only do not write 
others in the same strain." This brought back from him 
one of the kindest epistles imaginable. Uncompromising 
as his manner was, his services vastly outweighed all the 
defects of his qualities; and among these services were 
some of which the general public never dreamed. I could 
tell of pathetic devotion and self-sacrifice on his part, not 
only to the university, but to individual students. No pro- 
fessor ever had a kindlier feeling toward any scholar in 



438 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -IX 

need, sickness, or trouble. Those who knew him best loved 
him most; and, in the hard, early days of the university, 
he especially made good his title to the gratitude of every 
Cornellian, not only by his university work, but by his un- 
ostentatious devotion to every deserving student. 

As to my professorial work, I found in due time effec- 
tive aid in various young men who had been members of 
my classes. Of these were Charles Kendall Adams, who 
afterward became my successor in the presidency of Cor- 
nell, and George Lincoln Burr, who is now one of my suc- 
cessors in the professorship of history. 

Thus it was that from time to time I could be absent 
with a feeling that all at the university was moving on 
steadily and securely; with a feeling, indeed, that it was 
something to have aided in creating an institution which 
could move on steadily and securely, even when the hands 
of those who had set it in motion had been removed. 

There was, however, one temporary exception to the rule. 
During my absence as minister at Berlin trouble arose in 
the governing board so serious that I resigned my diplo- 
matic post before my term of service was ended, and has- 
tened back to my university duties. But no permanent 
injury had been done ; in fact, this experience, by reveal- 
ing weaknesses in sundry parts of our system, resulted 
in permanent good. 

Returning thus from Berlin, I threw myself into uni- 
versity work more heartily than ever. It was still difficult, 
for our lands had not as yet been sold to any extent, and 
our income was sadly insufficient. The lands were steadily 
increasing in value, and it was felt that it would be a great 
error to dispose of them prematurely. The work of pro- 
viding ways and means to meet the constantly increasing 
demands of the institution was therefore severe, and the 
loss of the great library bequest to the university also 
tried me sorely; but I labored on, and at last, thanks to 
the admirable service of Mr. Sage in the management of 
the lands, the university was enabled to realize, for the 
first time, a large capital from them. Up to the year 1885 



CONCLUDING YEARS-1881-1885 439 

they had been a steady drain upon our resources; now 
the sale of a fraction of them yielded a good revenue. 
For the first time there was something like ease in the 
university finances. 

Twenty years had now elapsed since I had virtually 
begun my duties as president by drafting the university 
charter and by urging it upon the legislature. The four 
years of work since my return from Berlin had tried me 
severely; and more than that, I had made a pledge some 
years before to the one who, of all in the world, had the 
right to ask it, that at the close of twenty years of service 
I would give up all administrative duties. To this pledge 
I was faithful, but with the feeling that it was at the sac- 
rifice of much. The new endowment coming in from the 
sale of lands offered opportunities which I had longed for 
during many weary years; but I felt that it was best to 
put the management into new hands. There were changes 
needed which were far more difficult for me to make than 
for a new-comer— especially changes in the faculty, which 
involved the severing of ties very dear to me. 

At the annual commencement of 1885, the twenty years 
from the granting of our charter having arrived, I pre- 
sented my resignation with the declaration that it must 
be accepted. It was accepted in such a way as to make 
me very grateful to all connected with the institution: 
trustees, faculty, and students were most kind to me. As 
regards the first of these bodies, I cannot resist the 
temptation to mention two evidences of their feeling 
which touched me deeply. The first of these was the 
proposal that I should continue as honorary president of 
the university. This I declined. To hold such a position 
would have been an injury to my successor ; I knew well 
that the time had come when he would be obliged to 
grapple with questions which I had left unsettled from 
a feeling that he would have a freer hand than I could have. 
But another tender made me I accepted: this was that I 
should nominate my successor. I did this, naming my old 
student at the University of Michigan, who had succeeded 



440 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-IX 

me there as professor of history— Charles Kendall Adams ; 
and so began a second and most prosperous adminis- 
tration. 

In thus leaving the presidency of the university, it 
seemed to me that the time had come for carrying out a 
plan formed long before— the transfer to the univer- 
sity of my historical and general library, which had be- 
come one of the largest and, in its field, one of the best 
private collections of books in the United States. The 
trustees accepted it, providing a most noble room for it in 
connection with the main university library and with the 
historical lecture-rooms; setting apart, also, from their 
resources, an ample sum, of which the income should be 
used in maintaining the library, in providing a librarian, 
in publishing a complete catalogue, and in making the 
collection effective for historical instruction. My only 
connection with the university thenceforward was that of 
a trustee and member of its executive committee. In this 
position it has been one of the greatest pleasures and sat- 
isfactions of my life to note the large and steady develop- 
ment of the institution during the two administrations 
which have succeeded my own. At the close of the admin- 
istration of President Adams, who had especially distin- 
guished himself in developing the law department and 
various other important university interests, in strength- 
ening the connection of the institution with the State, and 
in calling several most competent professors, he was suc- 
ceeded by a gentleman whose acquaintance I had made 
during my stay as minister to Germany, he being at that 
time a student at the University of Berlin,— Dr. Jacob 
Gould Schurman, whose remarkable powers and gifts have 
more than met the great expectations I then formed re- 
garding him, and have developed the university to a yet 
higher point, so that its number of students is now, as I 
revise these lines, over three thousand. He, too, has been 
called to important duties in the public service; and he 
has just returned after a year of most valuable work as 
president of the Commission of the United States to the 



CONCLUDING YEARS-1881-1885 441 

Philippine Islands, the university progressing during his 
absence, and showing that it has a life of its own and is 
not dependent even on the most gifted of presidents. 

On laying down the duties of the university presidency, 
it did not seem best to me to remain in its neighbor- 
hood during the first year or two of the new administra- 
tion. Any one who has ever been in a position similar 
to mine at that period will easily understand the reason. 
It is the same which has led thoughtful men in the 
churches to say that it is not well to have the old pastor 
too near when the new pastor is beginning his duties. Obe- 
dient to this idea of leaving my successor a free hand, my 
wife and myself took a leisurely journey through England, 
France, and Italy, renewing old acquaintances and making 
new friends. Returning after a year, I settled down 
again in the university, hoping to complete the book for 
which I had been gathering materials and on which I had 
been working steadily for some years, when there came the 
greatest calamity of my life,— the loss of her who had been 
my main support during thirty years,— and work became, 
for a time, an impossibility. Again I became a wanderer, 
going, in 1888, first to Scotland, and thence, being ordered 
by physicians to the East, went again through France and 
Italy, and extended the journey through Egypt, Greece, 
and Turkey. Of the men and things which seemed most 
noteworthy to me at that period I speak in other chapters. 
From the East I made my way leisurely to Paris, with 
considerable stops at Buda-Pesth, Vienna, Ulm, Munich, 
Frankfort-on-the-Main, Paris, London, taking notes in li- 
braries, besides collecting books and manuscripts. 

Returning to the United States in the autumn of 1889, 
and settling down again in my old house at Cornell, I was 
invited to give courses of historical lectures at various 
American universities, especially one upon the "Causes 
of the French Revolution, ' ' at Johns Hopkins, Columbian 
University in Washington, the University of Pennsylva- 
nia, Tulane University in New Orleans, and Stanford Uni- 
versity in California. Excursions to these institutions 



442 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -IX 

opened a new epoch in my life ; but of this I shall speak 
elsewhere. 

During this period of something over fifteen years, I 
have been frequently summoned from these duties, which 
were especially agreeable to me— first, in 1892, as minister 
to Russia; next, in 1896, as a member of the Venezuelan 
Commission at Washington ; and, in 1897, as ambassador 
to Germany. I have found many men and things which 
would seem likely to draw me away from my interest in 
Cornell; but, after all, that which has for nearly forty 
years held, and still holds, the deepest place in my 
thoughts is the university which I aided to found. 

Since resigning its presidency I have, in many ways, 
kept in relations with it ; and as I have, at various times, 
returned from abroad and walked over its grounds, 
visited its buildings, and lived among its faculty and 
students, an enjoyment has been mine rarely vouchsafed 
to mortals. It has been like revisiting the earth after 
leaving it. The work to which I had devoted myself for 
so many years, and with more earnestness than any other 
which I have ever undertaken, though at times almost 
with the energy of despair, I have now seen successful 
beyond my dreams. Above all, as I have seen the crowd 
of students coming and going, I have felt assured that the 
work is good. It was with this feeling that, just before I 
left the university for the embassy at Berlin, I erected at 
the entrance of the university grounds a gateway, on 
which I placed a paraphrase of a Latin inscription noted 
by me, many years before, over the main portal of the 
University of Padua, as follows : 

" So enter that daily thou mayest become more learned 
and thoughtful ; 
So depart that daily thou mayest become more useful 
to thy country and to mankind." 

I often recall the saying of St. Philip Neri, who, in the 
days of the Elizabethan persecutions, was wont to gaze 



CONCLUDING YEARS -1881-1885 443 

at the students passing out from the gates of the Eng- 
lish College at Rome, on their way to Great Britain, 
and to say: "I am feasting my eyes on those martyrs 
yonder." My own feelings are like his, but happier: 1 
feast my eyes on those youths going forth from Cornell 
University into this new twentieth century to see great 
things that I shall never see, and to make the new time 
better than the old. 

During my life, which is now extending beyond the 
allotted span of threescore and ten, I have been engaged, 
after the manner of my countrymen, in many sorts of 
work, have become interested in many conditions of men, 
have joined in many efforts which I hope have been of 
use ; but, most of all, I have been interested in the founding 
and maintaining of Cornell University, and by the part I 
have taken in that, more than by any other work of my life, 
I hope to be judged. 



PART V 
IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE 



CHAPTER XXVI 

AS ATTACHE AT ST. PETERSBURG —1854-1855 

WHILE yet an undergraduate at Yale, my favorite 
studies in history and some little attention to 
international law led me to take special interest in the 
diplomatic relations between modern states; but it never 
occurred to me that I might have anything to do directly 
with them. 

Having returned to New Haven after my graduation, 
intending to give myself especially to modern languages 
as a preparation for travel and historical study abroad, 
I saw one day, from my window in North College, my 
friend Gilman, then of the class above mine, since presi- 
dent of Johns Hopkins University and of the Carnegie 
Institution, rushing along in great haste, and, on going out 
to greet him, learned that he had been invited by Governor 
Seymour of Connecticut, the newly appointed minister 
to Russia, to go with him as an attache, and that, at his sug- 
gestion, a similar invitation would be extended to me. 

While in doubt on the matter, I took the train for New 
York to consult my father, and, entering a car, by a happy 
chance found the only vacant place at the side of the gov- 
ernor. I had never seen him, except on the platform at my 
graduation, three months before; but on my introducing 
myself, he spoke kindly of my argument on that occasion, 
which, as he was "pro-slavery" and I "anti-slavery," I 
had supposed he would detest ; then talked pleasantly on 
various subjects, and, on our separating at New York, in- 
vited me so cordially to go to Russia with him that I then 

447 



448 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -I 

and there decided to do so, and, on meeting my father, 
announced my decision. 

On the 10th of December, 1853, 1 sailed for England, with 
Gilman, and in London awaited Governor Seymour, who, 
at the last moment, had decided not to leave Washington 
until the Senate had confirmed his nomination ; but this 
delay proved to be fortunate, for thereby opportunity was 
afforded me to see some interesting men, and especially 
Mr. Buchanan, who had previously been minister to Rus- 
sia, was afterward President of the United States, and 
was at that time minister at the court of St. James. He 
was one of the two or three best talkers I have ever known, 
and my first knowledge of his qualities in this respect was 
gained at a great dinner given in his honor by Mr. George 
Peabody, the banker. A day or two before, our minister 
in Spain, Mr. Soule, and his son had each fought a duel, 
one with the French ambassador, the Marquis de Turgot, 
and the other with the Duke of Alba, on account of a 
supposed want of courtesy to Mrs. Soule; and the con- 
versation being directed somewhat by this event, I recall 
Mr. Buchanan's reminiscences of duels which he had 
known during his long public life as among the most in- 
teresting I have ever heard on any subject. 

Shortly after the arrival of Governor Seymour, we went 
on to Paris, and there, placing myself in the family of a 
French professor, I remained, while the rest of the party 
went on to St. Petersburg ; my idea being to hear lectures 
on history and kindred subjects, thus to fit myself by flu- 
ency in French for service in the attacheship, and, by other 
knowledge, for later duties. 

After staying in France for nearly a year, having re- 
ceived an earnest request from Governor Seymour to 
come on to Russia before the beginning of the winter, I 
left Paris about the middle of October and went by way of 
Berlin. In those days there was no railroad beyond the 
eastern frontier of Prussia, and, as the Crimean War was 
going on, there was a blockade in force which made it 
impossible to enter Russia by sea; consequently I had 



AS ATTACHE AT ST. PETERSBURG -1854-1855 449 

seven days and seven nights of steady traveling in a post- 
coach after entering the Russian Empire. 

Arriving at the Russian capital on the last day of Octo- 
ber, 1854, I was most heartily welcomed by the minister, 
who insisted that I should enjoy all the privileges of 
residence with him. Among the things to which I now 
look back as of the greatest value to me, is this stay of 
nearly a year under his roof. The attacheship, as it ex- 
isted in those days, was in many ways a good thing and in 
no way evil ; but it was afterward abolished by Congress 
on the ground that certain persons had abused its privi- 
leges. I am not alone in believing that it could again be 
made of real service to the country : one of the best secre- 
taries of state our country has ever had, Mr. Hamilton 
Fish, once expressed to me his deep regret at its sup- 
pression. 

Under the system which thus prevailed at that time, 
young men of sufficient means, generally from the leading 
universities, were secured to aid the minister, without any 
cost to the government, their only remuneration being an 
opportunity to see the life and study the institutions of 
the country to which the minister was accredited. 

The duty of an attache was to assist the minister in 
securing information, in conducting correspondence, and 
in carrying on the legation generally; he was virtually an 
additional secretary of legation, and it was a part of my 
duty to act as interpreter. As such I was constantly called 
to accompany the minister in his conferences with his col- 
leagues as well as with the ministers of the Russian gov- 
ernment, and also to be present at court and at ceremonial 
interviews : this was of course very interesting to me. In 
the intervals of various duties my time was given largely 
to studying such works upon Russia and especially upon 
Russian history as were accessible, and the recent history 
was all the more interesting from the fact that some of 
the men who had taken a leading part in it were still upon 
the stage. One occasion especially comes back to me, 
when, finding myself at an official function near an old 

I.— 29 



450 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-I 

general who was allowed to sit while all the others stood, 
I learned that he was one of the few still surviving who 
had taken a leading part in the operations against Napo- 
leon, in 1812, at Moscow. 

It was the period of the Crimean War, and at our lega- 
tion there were excellent opportunities for observing not 
only society at large, but the struggle then going on be- 
tween Russia on one side, and Great Britain, France, 
Italy, and Turkey on the other. 

The main duties of the American representative were to 
keep his own government well informed, to guard the in- 
terests of his countrymen, and not only to maintain, but 
to develop, the friendly relations that had existed for 
many years between Russia and the United States. A 
succession of able American ministers had contributed to 
establish these relations : among them two who afterward 
became President of the United States— John Quincy 
Adams and James Buchanan ; George Mifflin Dallas, who 
afterward became Vice-President ; John Randolph of Ro- 
anoke; and a number of others hardly less important in 
the history of our country. Fortunately, the two nations 
were naturally inclined to peaceful relations ; neither had 
any interest antagonistic to the other, and under these 
circumstances the course of the minister was plain : it was 
to keep his government out of all entanglements, and at 
the same time to draw the two countries more closely 
together. This our minister at that time was very success- 
ful in doing: his relations with the leading Russians, 
from the Emperor down, were all that could be desired, 
and to the work of men like him is largely due the fact 
that afterward, in our great emergency during the Civil 
War, Russia showed an inclination to us that probably had 
something to do with holding back the powers of western 
Europe from recognizing the Southern Confederacy. 

To the feeling thus created is also due, in some measure, 
the transfer of Alaska, which has proved fortunate, in 
spite of our halting and unsatisfactory administration of 
that region thus far. 



AS ATTACHE AT ST. PETERSBURG- 1854-1855 451 

The Czar at that period, Nicholas I, was a most im- 
posing personage, and was generally considered the most 
perfect specimen of a human being, physically speaking, 
in all Europe. At court, in the vast rooms filled with 
representatives from all parts of the world, and at the 
great reviews of his troops, he loomed up majestically, 
and among the things most strongly impressed upon 
my memory is his appearance as I saw him, just before 
his death, driving in his sledge and giving the military 
salute. 

Nor was he less majestic in death. In the spring of 1855 
he yielded very suddenly to an attack of pneumonia, 
doubtless rendered fatal by the depression due to the ill 
success of the war into which he had rashly plunged; 
and a day or two afterward it was made my duty to at- 
tend, with our minister, at the Winter Palace, the first 
presentation of the diplomatic corps to the new Emperor, 
Alexander II. The scene was impressive. The foreign 
ministers having been arranged in a semicircle, with their 
secretaries and attaches beside them, the great doors were 
flung open, and the young Emperor, conducted by his 
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count Nesselrode, entered 
the room. Tears were streaming down his cheeks, and he 
gave his address with deep feeling. He declared that if 
the Holy Alliance made in 1815 had been broken, it was 
not the fault of Russia ; that though he longed for peace, 
if terms should be insisted upon by the Western powers, at 
the approaching Paris conference, incompatible with Rus- 
sian honor, he would put himself at the head of his faith- 
ful country,— would retreat into Siberia,— would die ra- 
ther than yield. 

Then occurred an incident especially striking. From 
Austria, which only seven years before had been saved by 
Russia from destruction in the Austro-Hungarian revolu- 
tion, Russia had expected, in ordinary gratitude, at least 
some show of neutrality. But it had become evident that 
gratitude had not prevented Austria from secretly joining 
the hostile nations ; therefore it was that, in the course of 



452 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-I 

the address, the Emperor, turning to the Austrian rep- 
resentative, Count Esterhazy, addressed him with the 
greatest severity, hinted at the ingratitude of his govern- 
ment, and insisted on Russia's right to a different return. 
During all this part of the address the Emperor Alexander 
fastened his eyes upon those of the Austrian minister and 
spoke in a manner much like that which the head of a 
school would use toward a school-boy caught in misdoing. 
At the close of this speech came the most perfect example 
of deportment I had ever seen : the Austrian minister, hav- 
ing looked the Czar full in the face, from first to last, 
without the slightest trace of feeling, bowed solemnly, re- 
spectfully, with the utmost deliberation, and then stood 
impassive, as if words had not been spoken destined to 
change the traditional relations between the two great 
neighboring powers, and to produce a bitterness which, 
having lasted through the latter half of the nineteenth 
century, bids fair to continue far into the twentieth. 
// Knowing the importance of this speech as an indication 
to our government of what was likely to be the course of 
the Emperor, I determined to retain it in my mind; and, 
although my verbal memory has never been retentive, I 
was able, on returning to our legation, to write the whole 
of it, word for word. In the form thus given, it was 
transmitted to our State Department, where, a few years 
since, when looking over sundry papers, I found it. 

Immediately after this presentation the diplomatic 
corps proceeded to the room in which the body of Nicholas 
lay in state. Heaped up about the coffin were the jeweled 
crosses and orders which had been sent him by the various 
monarchs of the world, and, in the midst of them, the 
crowns and scepters of all the countries he had ruled, 
among them those of Siberia, Astrakhan, Kazan, Poland, 
the Crimea, and, above all, the great crown and scepter of 
the empire. At his feet two monks were repeating prayers 
for the dead; his face and form were still as noble and 
unconquerable as ever. 

His funeral dwells in my memory as the most imposing 



AS ATTACHE AT ST. PETEKSBURG-1854-1855 453 

pageant I had ever seen. When his body was carried from 
the palace to the Fortress Church, it was borne between 
double lines of troops standing closely together on each 
side of the avenues for a distance of five miles; marshals 
of the empire carried the lesser crowns and imperial in- 
signia before his body; and finally were borne the great- 
imperial crown, orb, and scepter, the masses of jewels in 
them, and especially the Orloff diamond swinging in the 
top of the scepter, flashing forth vividly on that bright 
winter morning, and casting their rays far along the ave- 
nues. Behind the body walked the Emperor Alexander 
and the male members of the imperial family. 

Later came the burial in the Fortress Church of St. 
Peter and St. Paul, on the island of the Neva, nearly oppo- 
site the Winter Palace. That, too, was most imposing. 
Choirs had been assembled from the four great cathedrals 
of the empire, and their music was beyond dreams. At 
the proper point in the service, the Emperor and his bro- 
thers, having taken the body of their father from its 
coffin and wrapped it in a shroud of gold cloth, carried it 
to the grave near that of Peter the Great, at the right of 
the high altar; and, as it was laid to rest, and beautiful 
music rose above us, the guns of the fortress on all sides 
of the church sounded the battle-roll until the whole edi- 
fice seemed to rock upon its foundations. Never had I 
imagined a scene so impressive. 

Among the persons with whom it was my duty to deal, 
in behalf of our representative, was the Prime Minister of 
Russia,— the Minister of Foreign Affairs,— Count Nessel- 
rode. He was at that period the most noted diplomatist 
in the world ; for, having been associated with Talleyrand, 
Metternich, and their compeers at the Congress of Vienna, 
he was now the last of the great diplomatists of the Napo- 
leonic period. He received me most kindly and said, "So 
you are beginning a diplomatic career?" My answer was 
that I could not begin it more fitly than by making the 
acquaintance of the Nestor of diplomacy, or words to that 
effect, and these words seemed to please him. Whenever 



454 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-I 

he met me afterward his manner was cordial, and he 
seemed always ready to do all in his power to favor the 
best relations between the two countries. 

The American colony in Russia at that period was 
small, and visitors were few ; but some of these enlivened 
us. Of the more interesting were Colonel Samuel Colt of 
Hartford, inventor of the revolver which bears his name, 
and his companion, Mr. Dickerson, eminent as an expert 
in mechanical matters and an authority on the law of 
patents. They had come into the empire in the hope of 
making a contract to supply the Russians with improved 
arms such as the allies were beginning to use against them 
in the Crimea; but the heavy conservatism of Russian 
officials thwarted all their efforts. To all representations 
as to the importance of improved arms the answer was, 
"Our soldiers are too ignorant to use anything but the 
old 'brown Bess.' " The result was that the Russian 
soldiers were sacrificed by thousands; their inferiority 
in arms being one main cause of their final defeat. 

That something better than this might have been ex- 
pected was made evident to us all one day when I con- 
ducted these gentlemen through the Imperial Museum of 
the Hermitage, adjoining the Winter Palace. After look- 
ing through the art collections we went into the room 
where were preserved the relics of Peter the Great, and 
especially the machines of various sorts made for him by 
the mechanics whom he called to his aid from Holland and 
other Western countries. These machines were not then 
shut up in cases, as they now are, but were placed about 
the room and easy of access. Presently I heard Mr. Dick- 
erson in a loud voice call out: "Good God! Sam, come 
here! Only look at this!" On our going to him, he 
pointed out to us a lathe for turning irregular forms and 
another for copying reliefs, with specimens of work still 
in them. ' ' Look at that, ' ' he said. ' ' Here is Blanchard 's 
turning-lathe, which only recently has been reinvented, 
which our government uses in turning musket-stocks, and 
which is worth a fortune. Look at those reliefs in this 



AS ATTACHE AT ST. PETERSBURG— 1854-1855 455 

other machine ; here is the very lathe for copying sculpture 
that has just been reinvented, and is now attracting so 
much attention at Paris." 

These machines had stood there in the gallery, open to 
everybody, ever since the death of Peter, two hundred 
years before, and no human being had apparently ever 
taken the trouble to find the value of them. 

But there came Americans of a very different sort, and 
no inconsiderable part of our minister's duties was to keep 
his hot-headed fellow-citizens from embroiling our coun- 
try with the militant powers. 

A very considerable party in the United States leaned 
toward Russia and sought to aid her secretly, if not 
openly. This feeling was strongest in our Southern States 
and among the sympathizers with slavery in our Northern 
States, a main agent of it in Russia being a certain Dr. 
Cottman of New Orleans, and its main causes being the 
old dislike of Great Britain, and the idea among pro-sla- 
very fanatics that there was a tie between their part of 
our country and Russia arising from the fact that while 
the American Republic was blessed with slavery, the Rus- 
sian Empire was enjoying the advantages of the serf 
system. This feeling might have been very different had 
these sympathizers with Russia been aware that at this 
very moment Alexander II was planning to abolish the 
serf system throughout his whole empire; but as it was, 
their admiration for Russia knew no bounds, and they 
even persuaded leading Russians that it would not be a 
difficult matter to commit America to the cause of Russia, 
even to aiding her with arms, men, and privateers. 

This made the duty of the American minister at times 
very delicate; for, while showing friendliness to Russia, 
he had to thwart the efforts of her over-zealous American 
advocates. Moreover, constant thought had to be exer- 
cised for the protection of American citizens then within 
the empire. Certain Russian agents had induced a num- 
ber of young American physicians and surgeons who had 
been studying in Paris to enter the Russian army, and 



456 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-I 

these, having been given pay and rapid advancement, in 
the hope that this would strengthen American feeling 
favorable to the Russian cause, were naturally hated by 
the Russian surgeons; hence many of these young com- 
patriots of ours were badly treated,— some so severely 
that they died,— and it became part of our minister's duty 
to extricate the survivors from their unfortunate position. 
More than once, on returning with him from an interview 
with the Minister of War, I saw tears in Governor Sey- 
mour's eyes as he dwelt upon the death of some of these 
young fellows whom he had learned to love during their 
stay in St. Petersburg. 

The war brought out many American adventurers, some 
of them curiosities of civilization, and this was especially 
the case with several who had plans for securing victory 
to Russia over the Western powers. All sorts of nostrums 
were brought in by all sorts of charlatans, and the efforts 
of the minister and his subordinates to keep these gentle- 
men within the limits of propriety in their dealings with 
one another and with the Russian authorities were at 
times very arduous. On one occasion, the main function- 
aries of the Russian army having been assembled with 
great difficulty to see the test of a new American invention 
in artillery, it was found that the inventor's rival had 
stolen some essential part of the gun, and the whole thing 
was a vexatious failure. 

One man who came out with superb plans brought a 
militia colonel's commission from the governor of a West- 
ern State and the full uniform of a major-general. At 
first he hesitated to clothe himself in all his glory, and 
therefore went through a process of evolution, beginning 
first with part of his uniform and then adding more as 
his courage rose. During this process he became the 
standing joke of St. Petersburg; but later, when he had 
emerged in full and final splendor, he became a man of 
mark indeed, so much so that serious difficulties arose. 
Throughout the city are various corps de garde, and the 
sentinel on duty before each of these, while allowed merely 



AS ATTACHE AT ST. PETERSBURG -1854-1855 457 

to present arms to an officer of lower rank, must, when- 
ever he catches sight of a general officer, call out the entire 
guard to present arms with the beating of drums. Here 
our American was a source of much difficulty, for when- 
ever any sentinel caught sight of his gorgeous epaulets in 
the distance the guard was instantly called out, arms pre- 
sented, and drums beaten, much to the delight of our 
friend, but even more to the disgust of the generals of the 
Russian army and to the troops, who thus rendered ab- 
surd homage and found themselves taking part in some- 
thing like a bit of comic opera. 

Another example was also interesting. A New York 
ward leader— big, rough, and rosy— had come out as an 
agent for an American breech-loading musket company, 
and had smuggled specimens of arms over the frontier. 
Arriving in St. Petersburg, he was presented to the Em- 
peror, and after receiving handsome testimonials, was put 
in charge of two aides-de-camp, who took him and his 
wife about, in court carriages, to see the sights of the 
Russian capital. At the close of his stay, wishing to make 
some return for this courtesy, he gave these two officers 
a dinner at his hotel. Our minister declined his invita- 
tion, but allowed the secretary and me to accept it, and 
we very gladly availed ourselves of this permission. Ar- 
riving at his rooms, we were soon seated at a table splen- 
didly furnished. At the head of it was the wife of our 
entertainer, and at her right one of the Russian officials, 
in gorgeous uniform; at the other end of our table was 
our host, and at his right the other Russian official, splen- 
didly attired ; beside the first official sat our secretary, and 
beside the other was the place assigned to me. The din- 
ner was successful : all spoke English, and all were happy ; 
but toward the end of it our host, having perhaps taken 
more wine than was his wont, grew communicative, and, as 
ill luck would have it, the subject of the conversation 
became personal courage, whereupon he told a story. Re- 
calling his experience as a deputy sheriff of New York, he 
said: 



458 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-I 



a 



; When those river pirates who murdered a sailor in 
New York harbor had to be hanged, the sheriff of the 
county hadn't the courage to do it and ordered me to 
hang them. I rather hated the business, but I made every- 
thing ready, and when the time came I took an extra glass 
of brandy, cut the rope, and off they swung. ' ' 

The two Russians started back in consternation. Not 
all their politeness could conceal it: horror of horrors, 
they were dining with a hangman! Besides their sense 
of degradation in this companionship, superstitions had 
been bred in them which doubled their distress. A dead 
silence fell over all. I was the first to break it by remark- 
ing to my Russian neighbor : 

"You may perhaps not know, sir, that in the State of 
New York the taking of life by due process of law is 
considered so solemn a matter that we intrust it to the 
chief executive officers of our counties,— to our sheriffs,— 
and not to hangmen or executioners. ' ' 

He looked at me very solemnly as I announced this 
truth, and then, after a solemn pause, gasped out in a 
dubious, awe-struck voice, "Merci bien, monsieur." But 
this did not restore gaiety to the dinner. Henceforth it 
was cold indeed, and at the earliest moment possible the 
Russian officials bowed themselves out, and no doubt, for 
a long time afterward, ascribed any ill luck which befell 
them to this scene of ill omen. 

Another case in which this irrepressible compatriot 
figured was hardly less peculiar. Having decided to re- 
turn to America, and the blockade being still in force, he 
secured a place in the post-coach for the seven days and 
seven nights' journey to the frontier. The opportunities 
to secure such passages were few and far between, since 
this was virtually the only public conveyance out of the 
empire. As he was obliged to have his passport vised 
at the Russian Foreign Office in order that he might leave 
the country, it had been sent by the legation to the Rus- 
sian authorities a fortnight before his departure, but 
under various pretexts it was retained, and at last did not 



AS ATTACHE AT ST. PETERSBURG-1854-1855 459 

arrive in time. When the hour of departure came he was 
at the post-house waiting for his pass, and as he had been 
assured that it would duly reach him, he exerted himself 
in every way to delay the coach. He bribed one subordi- 
nate after another; but at last the delay was so long and 
the other passengers so impatient that one of the higher 
officials appeared upon the scene and ordered the coach to 
start. At this our American was wild with rage and 
began a speech in German and English— so that all the 
officials might understand it— on Russian officials and on 
the empire in general. A large audience having gathered 
around him, he was ordered to remove his hat. At this 
he held it on all the more firmly, declared himself an 
American, and defied the whole power of the empire to 
remove it. He then went on to denounce everything in 
Russia, from the Emperor down. He declared that the 
officials were a pack of scoundrels; that the only reason 
why he did not obtain his passport was that he had not 
bribed them as highly as they expected; that the empire 
ought to be abolished ; that he hoped the Western powers 
in the war then going on would finish it— indeed, that he 
thought they would. 

There was probably some truth in his remark as to the 
inadequate bribing of officials ; but the amazing thing was 
that his audience were so paralyzed by his utterances and 
so overawed by his attitude that they made no effort to 
arrest him. Then came a new scene. While they were 
standing before him thus confounded, he suddenly turned 
to the basket of provisions which he had laid in for his 
seven days' journey, and began pelting his audience, 
including the official above named, with its contents, hurl- 
ing sandwiches, oranges, and finally even roast chickens, 
pigeons, and partridges, at their devoted heads. At 
last, pressing his hat firmly over his brows, he strode 
forth to the legation unmolested. There it took some 
labor to cool his wrath; but his passport having finally 
been obtained, we secured for him permission to use post- 
horses, and so he departed from the empire. 



460 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-I 

To steer a proper course in the midst of such fellow- 
citizens was often difficult, and I recall multitudes of other 
examples hardly less troublesome; indeed, the career of 
this same deputy sheriff at St. Petersburg was full of 
other passages requiring careful diplomatic intervention 
to prevent his arrest. 

Luckily for these gentlemen, the Russian government 
felt, just at that time, special need of maintaining friendly 
relations with the powers not at war with her, and the 
public functionaries of all sorts were evidently ordered 
to treat Americans with extreme courtesy and forbear- 
ance. 

One experience of this was somewhat curious. Our first 
secretary of legation and I, having gone on Easter eve to 
the midnight mass at the Kazan cathedral, we were shown 
at once into a place of honor in front of the great silver 
iconostase and stationed immediately before one of the 
doors opening through it into the inner sanctuary. At 
first the service went on in darkness, only mitigated by 
a few tapers at the high altar ; but as the clock struck the 
hour of midnight there came suddenly the roaring of the 
fortress guns, the booming of great bells above and 
around us, and a light, which appeared at the opposite 
end of the cathedral, seemed to shoot in all directions, 
leaving trains of fire, until all was ablaze, every person 
present holding a lighted taper. Then came the mass, 
celebrated by a bishop and his acolytes gorgeously at- 
tired, with the swinging of censers, not only toward the 
ecclesiastics, but toward the persons of importance pres- 
ent, among whom we were evidently included. Suddenly 
there came a dead stop, stillness, and an evident atmo- 
sphere of embarrassment. Then the ceremony began again, 
and again the censers were swung toward us, and again 
a dead stop. Everything seemed paralyzed. Presently 
there came softly to my side a gentleman who said in a 
low tone, "You are of the American legation?" I an- 
swered in the affirmative. He said, ' ' This is a very inter- 
esting ceremony." To this I also assented. He then said, 



AS ATTACHE AT ST. PETERSBURG- 1854-1855 4G1 

"Is this the first time you have seen it?" "Yes," I an- 
swered ; " we have never been in Russia at Easter before." 
He then took very formal leave, and again the ceremony 
was revived, again the clouds of incense rose, and again 
came the dead stop. Presently the same gentleman came 
up again, gently repeated very much the same questions 
as before, and receiving the same answers, finally said, 
with some embarrassment: "Might I ask you to kindly 
move aside a little? A procession has been waiting for 
some time back of this door, and we are very anxious to 
have it come out into the church." At this Secretary 
Erving and I started aside instantly, much chagrined to 
think that we had caused such a stoppage in such a cere- 
mony; the doors swung open, and out came a brilliant 
procession of ecclesiastics with crosses, censers, lights, and 
banners. 

Not all of our troubles were due to our compatriots. 
Household matters sometimes gave serious annoyance. 
The minister had embraced a chance very rare in Russia, 
— one which, in fact, almost never occurs,— and had 
secured a large house fully furnished, with the servants, 
who, from the big chasseur who stood at the back of the 
minister's sledge to the boy who blew the organ on which 
I practised, were serfs, and all, without exception, docile, 
gentle, and kindly. But there was one standing enemy 
—vodka. The feeling of the Russian peasant toward the 
rough corn-brandy of his own country is characteristic. 
The Russian language is full of diminutives expressive 
of affection. The peasant addresses his superior as Ba- 
tushka, the affectionate diminutive of the word which 
means father; he addresses the mistress of the house as 
Matuslika, which is the affectionate diminutive of the Rus- 
sian word for mother. To his favorite drink, brandy, he 
has given the name which is the affectionate diminutive 
of the word voda, water— namely, vodka, which really 
means "dear little water." Vodka was indeed our most 
insidious foe, and gave many evidences of its power ; but 
one of them made an unwonted stir among us. 



462 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-I 

One day the minister, returning in his carriage from 
making sundry official visits, summoned the housekeeper, 
a Baltic-province woman who had been admirably brought 
up in an English family, and said to her : "Annette I insist 
that you discharge Ivan, the coachman, at once; I can't 
stand him any longer. This afternoon he raced, with me in 
the carriage, up and down the Nevsky,from end to end, with 
the carriages of grand dukes and ministers, and, do my 
best, I could not stop him. He simply looked back at me, 
grinned like an idiot, and drove on with all his might. 
It is the third time he has done this. I have pardoned 
him twice on his solemn pledge that he would do better; 
but now he must go. ' ' Annette assented, and in the even- 
ing after dinner came in to tell the minister that Ivan was 
going, but wished to beg his pardon and say farewell. 

The minister went out rather reluctantly, the rest of us 
following; but he had hardly reached the anteroom when 
Ivan, a great burly creature with a long flowing beard and 
caftan, rushed forward, groveled before him, embraced 
his ankles, laid his head upon his feet, and there remained 
mumbling and moaning. The minister was greatly em- 
barrassed and nervously ejaculated: "Take him away! 
Take him away!" But all to no purpose. Ivan could 
not be induced to relax his hold. At last the minister 
relented and told Annette to inform Ivan that he would 
receive just one more trial, and that if he failed again he 
would be sent away to his owner without having any 
opportunity to apologize or to say good-bye. 

Very interesting to me were the houses of some of the 
British residents, and especially that of Mr. Baird, the 
head of the iron-works which bore his name, and which, 
at that time, were considered among the wonders of Rus- 
sia. He was an interesting character. Noticing, among 
the three very large and handsome vases in his dining- 
room, the middle one made up of the bodies of three 
large eagles in oxidized silver with crowns of gold, 
I was told its history. When the Grand Duke Alexander 
—who afterward became the second emperor of that 



AS ATTACHE AT ST. PETERSBURG-1854-1855 463 

name— announced his intention of joining the St. Peters 
burg Yacht Club, a plan was immediately formed to 
provide a magnificent trophy and allow him to win it, 
and to this plan all the members of the club agreed excepl 
Baird. He at once said: "No; if the grand duke's yacht 
can take it, let him have it; if not, let the best yacht win. 
If I can take it, I shall.' ! It was hoped that he would think 
better of it, but when the day arrived, the other yachts 
having gradually fallen back, Mr. Baird continued the 
race with the grand duke and won. As a result he was 
for some years in disfavor with the high officials sur- 
rounding the Emperor— a disfavor that no doubt cost 
him vast sums; but he always asserted that he was glad 
he had insisted on his right. 

On one occasion I was witness to a sad faux pas at his 
dinner-table. It was in the early days of the Crimean 
War, and an American gentleman who was present was 
so careless as to refer to Queen Victoria's proclamation 
against all who aided the enemy, which was clearly leveled 
at Mr. Baird and his iron-works. There was a scene at 
once. The ladies almost went into hysterics in deprecation 
of the position in which the proclamation had placed 
them. But Mr. Baird himself was quite equal to the 
occasion: in a very up-and-down way he said that he of 
course regretted being regarded as a traitor to his country, 
but that in the time of the alliance against the first Napo- 
leon his father had been induced by the Russian govern- 
ment to establish works, and this not merely with the 
consent, but with the warm approval, of the British gov- 
ernment; in consequence the establishment had taken con- 
tracts with the Russian government and now they must be 
executed; so far as he was concerned his conscience was 
entirely clear; his duty was plain, and he was going to 
do it. 

On another occasion at his table there was a very good 
repartee. The subject of spiritualism having been brought 
up, some one told a story of a person who, having gone 
into an unfrequented garret of an old family residence, 



464 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -I 

found that all the old clothing which had been stored there 
during many generations had descended from the shelves 
and hooks and had assumed kneeling postures about the 
floor. All of us heard the story with much solemnity, 
when good old Dr. Law, chaplain of the British church, 
broke the silence with the words, "That must have been 
a family of very pious habits." This of course broke the 
spell. 

I should be sorry to have it thought that all my stay 
in the Russian capital was given up to official routine and 
social futilities. Fortunately for me, the social demands 
were not very heavy. The war in the Crimea, steadily 
going against Russia, threw a cloud over the court and 
city and reduced the number of entertainments to a mini- 
mum. This secured me, during the long winter evenings, 
much time for reading, and in addition to all the valuable 
treatises I could find on Russia, I went with care through 
an extensive course in modern history. 

As to Russian matters, it was my good fortune to be- 
come intimately acquainted with Atkinson, the British 
traveler in Siberia. He had brought back many portfolios 
of sketches, and his charming wife had treasured up a 
great fund of anecdotes of people and adventure, so that 
I seemed for a time to know Siberia as if I had lived there. 
Then it was that I learned of the beauties and capabilities 
of its southern provinces. The Atkinsons had also 
brought back their only child, a son born on the Siberian 
steppe, a wonderfully bright youngster, whom they des- 
tined for the British navy. He bore a name which I fear 
may at times have proved a burden to him, for his father 
and mother were so delighted with the place in which he 
was born that they called him, after it, "Alatow-Tam 
Chiboulak." 1 

The general Russian life, as I thus saw it, while intensely 
interesting in many respects, was certainly not cheerful. 
Despite the frivolity dominant among the upper class and 

1 Since writing the above, I have had the pleasure of receiving a letter from this 
gentleman, who has for some time held the responsible and interesting posi- 
tion of superintendent of public instruction in the Hawaiian Islands, his son, 
a graduate of the University of Michigan, having been Secretary of the Ter- 
ritory. 



AS ATTACHE AT ST. PETERSBURG-1854-1855 4G5 

the fetishism controlling the lower classes, there was, espe- 
cially in that period of calamity, a deep undertone of 
melancholy. Melancholy, indeed, is a marked character- 
istic of Russia, and, above all, of the peasantry. They 
seem sad even in their sports ; their songs, almost without 
exception, are in the minor key; the whole atmosphere is 
apparently charged with vague dread of some calamity. 
Despite the suppression of most of the foreign journals, 
and the blotting out of page after page of the newspapers 
allowed to enter the empire, despite all that the secret po- 
lice could do in repressing unfavorable comment, it be- 
came generally known that all was going wrong in the 
Crimea. News came of reverse after reverse: of the de- 
feats of the Alma and Inkerman, and, as a climax, the loss 
of Sebastopol and the destruction of the Russian fleet. In 
the midst of it all, as is ever the case in Russian wars, 
came utter collapse in the commissariat department; 
everywhere one heard hints and finally detailed stories 
of scoundrelism in high places : of money which ought to 
have been appropriated to army supplies, but which had 
been expended at the gambling-tables of Homburg or in 
the Breda quarter at Paris. 

Then it was that there was borne in upon me the convic- 
tion that Russia, powerful as she seems when viewed from 
the outside, is anything but strong when viewed from the 
inside. To say nothing of the thousand evident weaknesses 
resulting from autocracy,— the theory that one man, and 
he, generally, not one of the most highly endowed, can do 
the thinking for a hundred millions of people,— there was 
nowhere the slightest sign of any uprising of a great na- 
tion, as, for instance, of the French against Europe in 
1792, of the Germans against France in 1813 and in 1870, 
of Italy against Austria in 1859 and afterward, and of the 
Americans in the Civil War of 1861. There were cer- 
tainly many noble characters in Russia, and these must 
have felt deeply the condition of things ; but there being 
no great middle class, and the lower class having been 
long kept in besotted ignorance, there seemed to be no 
force on which patriotism could take hold. 

I.— 30 



CHAPTER XXVII 

AS ATTACHE AND BEARER OF DESPATCHES 
IN WAR-TIME— 1855 

THE spring of 1855 was made interesting by the ar- 
rival of the blockading fleet before the mouth of the 
Neva, and shortly afterward I went down to look at it. 
It was a most imposing sight : long lines of mighty three- 
deckers of the old pattern, British and French,— one hun- 
dred in all,— stretched across the Gulf of Finland in front 
of the fortresses of Cronstadt. Behind the fortresses lay 
the Russian fleet, helpless and abject; and yet, as events 
showed during our own Civil War half a dozen years 
later, a very slight degree of inventive ability would have 
enabled the Russians to annihilate the hostile fleet, and to 
gain the most prodigious naval victory of modern times. 
Had they simply taken one or two of their own great 
ships to the Baird iron-works hard by, and plated them 
with railway iron, of which there was plenty, they could 
have paralleled the destruction of our old wooden frigates 
at Norfolk by the Merrimac, but on a vastly greater 
scale. Yet this simple expedient occurred to no one ; and 
the allied fleet, under Sir Richard Dundas, bade defiance 
to the Russian power during the whole summer. 

The Russians looked more philosophically upon the 
blockade than upon their reverses in the Crimea, but they 
acted much like the small boy who takes revenge on the 
big boy by making faces at him. Some of their carica- 
tures on their enemies were very clever. Fortunately for 
such artistic efforts, the British had given them a fine 

466 



AS DESPATCH-BEARER IN WAR-TIME-1855 467 

opportunity during the previous year, when Sir Charles 
Napier, the commander of the Baltic fleet, having made 
a boastful speech at a public dinner in London, and in- 
vited his hearers to dine with him at St. Petersburg, had 
returned to England, after a summer before Cronstadt, 
without even a glimpse of the Russian capital. 

I am the possessor of a very large collection of his- 
torical caricatures of all nations, and among them all 
there is hardly one more spirited and comical than that 
which represents Sir Charles at the masthead of one of 
his frigates, seeking, through a spy-glass, to get a sight at 
the domes and spires of St. Petersburg : not even the best 
efforts of Gillray or "H. B.," or Gavarni or Daumier, or 
the brightest things in "Punch" or ' ' Kladderadatsch " 
surpass it. 

Some other Russian efforts at keeping up public 
spirit were less legitimate. Popular pictures of a rude 
sort were circulated in vast numbers among the peas- 
ants, representing British and French soldiers dese- 
crating churches, plundering monasteries, and murder- 
ing priests. 

Near the close of my stay I made a visit, in company 
with Mr. Erving, first secretary of the legation, to Mos- 
cow,— the journey, which now requires but twelve hours, 
then consuming twenty-four; and a trying journey it was, 
since there was no provision for sleeping. 

The old Russian capital, and, above all, the Kremlin, 
interested me greatly; but, of all the vast collections in 
the Kremlin, two things especially arrested my attention. 
The first was a statue,— the only statue in all those vast 
halls,— and there seemed a wondrous poetic justice in the 
fact that it represented the first Napoleon. The other 
thing was an evidence of the feeling of the Emperor 
Nicholas toward Poland. In one of the large rooms was 
a full-length portrait of Nicholas's elder brother and im- 
mediate predecessor, Alexander I; flung on the floor at 
his feet was the constitution of Poland, which he had 
given, and which Nicholas, after fearful bloodshed, had 



468 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -II 

taken away ; and lying near was the Polish scepter broken 
in the middle. 

A visit to the Sparrow Hills, from which Napoleon 
first saw Moscow and the Kremlin, was also interesting; 
but the city itself, though picturesque, disappointed me. 
Everywhere were filth, squalor, beggary, and fetishism. 
Evidences of official stupidity were many. In one of the 
Kremlin towers a catastrophe had occurred on the occa- 
sion of the Emperor's funeral, a day or two before our 
arrival: some thirty men had been ringing one of the 
enormous bells, when it broke loose from its rotten fast- 
enings and crashed down into the midst of the ringers, 
killing several. Sad reminders of this slaughter were 
shown us ; it was clearly the result of gross neglect. 

Another revelation of Russian officialism was there 
vouchsafed us. Wishing to send a very simple mes- 
sage to our minister at St. Petersburg, we went to the 
telegraph office and handed it to the clerk in charge. 
Putting on an air of great importance, he began a long 
inquisitorial process, insisting on knowing our full names, 
whence we had come, where we were going, how long we 
were staying, why we were sending the message, etc., etc. ; 
and when he had evidently asked all the questions he 
could think of, he gravely informed us that our message 
could not be sent until the head of the office had given his 
approval. On our asking where the head of the office 
was, he pointed out a stout gentleman in military uniform 
seated near the stove in the further corner of the room, 
reading a newspaper ; and, on our requesting him to notify 
this superior being, he answered that he could not thus 
interrupt him; that we could see that he was busy. At 
this Erving lost his temper, caught up the paper, tore it 
in pieces, threw them into the face of the underling with 
a loud exclamation more vigorous than pious, and we 
marched out defiantly. Looking back when driving off 
in our droshky, we saw that he had aroused the entire es- 
tablishment : at the door stood the whole personnel of the 
office,— the military commander at the head,— all gazing 



AS DESPATCH-BEARER IN WAR-TIME-1855 469 

at us in a sort of stupefaction. We expected to hear from 
them afterward, but on reflection they evidently thought 
it best not to stir the matter. 

In reviewing this first of my sojourns in Russia, my 
thoughts naturally dwell upon the two sovereigns Nicho- 
las I and Alexander II. The first of these was a great 
man scared out of greatness by the ever recurring specter 
of the French Revolution. There had been much to make 
him a stern reactionary. He could not but remember that 
two Czars— his father and grandfather— had both been 
murdered in obedience to family necessities. At his proc- 
lamation as emperor he had been welcomed by a revolt 
which had forced him 

" To wade through slaughter to a throne — " 

a revolt which had deluged the great parade-ground of 
St. Petersburg with the blood of his best soldiers, which 
had sent many coffles of the nobility to Siberia, and which 
had obliged him to see the bodies of several men who 
might have made his reign illustrious dangling from the 
fortress walls opposite the Winter Palace. He had been 
obliged to grapple with a fearful insurrection in Poland, 
caused partly by the brutality of his satraps, but mainly 
by religious hatreds ; to suppress it with enormous car- 
nage; and to substitute, for the moderate constitutional 
liberty which his brother had granted, a cruel despotism. 
He had thus become the fanatical apostle of reaction 
throughout Europe, and as such was everywhere the im- 
placable enemy of any evolution of constitutional liberty. 
The despots of Europe adored him. As symbols of his 
ideals, he had given to the King of Prussia and to the 
Neapolitan Bourbon copies of two of the statues which 
adorned his Nevsky bridge — statues representing restive 
horses restrained by strong men; and the Berlin populace, 
with an unerring instinct, had given to one of these the 
name "Progress checked," and to the other the name 
' ' Retrogression encouraged. ' ' To this day one sees every- 



470 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-II 

where in the palaces of Continental rulers, whether great 
or petty, his columns of Siberian porphyry, jasper bowls, 
or malachite vases— signs of his approval of reaction. 

But, in justice to him, it should be said that there was 
one crime he did not commit— a crime, indeed, which he 
did not dare commit : he did not violate his oath to main- 
tain the liberties of Finland. That was reserved for the 
second Nicholas, now on the Russian throne. 

Whether at the great assemblages of the Winter Palace, 
or at the reviews, or simply driving in his sledge or walking 
in the street, he overawed all men by his presence. When- 
ever I saw him, and never more cogently than during that 
last drive of his just before his death, there was forced 
to my lips the thought: "You are the most majestic being 
ever created." Colossal in stature; with a face such as 
one finds on a Greek coin, but overcast with a shadow of 
Muscovite melancholy ; with a bearing dignified, but with 
a manner not unkind, he bore himself like a god. And 
yet no man could be more simple or affable, whether in 
his palace or in the street. Those were the days when a 
Russian Czar could drive or walk alone in every part of 
every city in his empire. He frequently took exercise in 
walking along the Neva quay, and enjoyed talking with 
any friends he met— especially with members of the 
diplomatic corps. The published letters of an American 
minister— Mr. Dallas— give accounts of many discussions 
thus held with him. 

There seemed a most characteristic mingling of his bet- 
ter and worse qualities in the two promises which, accord- 
ing to tradition, he exacted on his death-bed from his son 
—namely, that he would free the serfs, and that he would 
never give a constitution to Poland. 

The accession of this son, Alexander II, brought a 
change at once : we all felt it. While he had the big Roma- 
noff frame and beauty and dignity, he had less of the 
majesty and none of the implacable sternness of his father. 
At the reception of the diplomatic corps on his accession 
he showed this abundantly, for, despite the strong decla- 



AS DESPATCH-BEARER IN WAR-TIME- 1855 471 

rations in his speech, his tears betrayed him. Reforms 
began at once— halting, indeed, but all tending in the right 
direction. How they were developed, and how so largely 
brought to naught, the world knows by heart. Of all the 
ghastly miscalculations ever made, of all the crimes which 
have cost the earth most dear, his murder was the worst. 
The murders of William of Orange, of Lincoln, of Gar- 
field, of Carnot, of Humbert I, did not stop the course of 
a beneficent evolution; but the murder of Alexander II 
threw Russia back into the hands of a reaction worse than 
any ever before known, which has now lasted nearly a 
generation, and which bids fair to continue for many 
more, unless the Russian reverses in the present war 
force on a better order of things. For me, looking 
back upon those days, it is hard to imagine even the 
craziest of nihilists or anarchists wild enough to commit 
such a crime against so attractive a man fully embarked 
on so blessed a career. He, too, in the days of my stay, 
was wont to mingle freely with his people ; he even went 
to their places of public amusement, and he was fre- 
quently to be seen walking among them on the quays and 
elsewhere. In my reminiscences of the Hague Conference, 
I give from the lips of Prince Minister an account of a 
conversation under such circumstances : the Czar walking 
on the quay or resting on a seat by the roadside, while 
planning to right a wrong done by a petty Russian official 
to a German student. Therein appears not only a deep 
sense of justice and humanity, but that melancholy, so 
truly Russian, which was deepest in him and in his uncle, 
the first Alexander. There dwell also in my memory 
certain photographs of him in his last days, shown me 
not long before his death, during my first official stay at 
Berlin. His face was beautiful as of old, but the melan- 
choly had deepened, and the eyes made a fearful revela- 
tion ; for they were the eyes of a man who for years had 
known himself to be hunted. As I looked at them there 
came back to me the remembrance of the great, beautiful, 
frightened eyes of a deer, hunted down and finally at my 



472 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE- II 

mercy, in the midst of a lake in the Adirondacks— eyes 
which haunted me long afterward. And there comes back 
the scene at the funeral ceremony in his honor at Berlin, 
coincident with that at St. Petersburg— his uncle, the 
Emperor William I, and all about him, in tears, and a 
depth of real feeling shown such as no monarch of a 
coarser fiber could have inspired. When one reflects that 
he had given his countrymen, among a great mass of 
minor reforms, trial by jury ; the emancipation of twenty 
millions of serfs, with provision for homesteads ; and had 
at that moment— as his adviser, Loris Melikoff, confessed 
when dying— a constitution ready for his people, one feels 
inclined to curse those who take the methods of revolution 
rather than those of evolution. 

My departure from Russia embraces one or two inci- 
dents which may throw some light upon the Russian 
civilization of that period. On account of the blockade, I 
was obliged to take the post from St. Petersburg to War- 
saw, giving to the journey seven days and seven nights of 
steady travel ; and, as the pressure for places on the post 
was very great, I was obliged to secure mine several weeks 
beforehand, and then thought myself especially lucky in 
obtaining a sort of sentry-box on the roof of the second 
coach usually occupied by the guard. This good luck was 
due to the fact that, there being on that day two coaches, 
one guard served for both; and the place on the second 
was thus left vacant for me. 

Day and night, then, during that whole week, we rum- 
bled on through the interminable forests of Poland, and 
the distressingly dirty hamlets and towns scattered along 
the road. My first night out was trying, for it was very 
cold; but, having secured from a dealer in the first 
town where we stopped in the morning a large sheet of 
felt, I wrapped my legs in it, and thenceforward was 
comfortable. My companions in the two post-coaches 
were very lively, being mainly French actors and actresses 
who had just finished their winter campaign in Russia; 
and, when we changed horses at the post-houses, the scenes 



AS DESPATCH-BEARER IN WAR-TIME-1S55 47;i 

were of a sort which an American orator once character- 
ized as "halcyon and vociferous." 

Bearing a despatch-bag to our legation at Paris, I car- 
ried the pass, not only of an attache, but of a bearer of 
despatches, and on my departure our minister said to me : 
"The Russian officials at the frontier have given much 
trouble to Americans of late; and I hope that if they 
trouble you, you will simply stop and inform me. You 
are traveling for pleasure and information, and a few days 
more or less will make little difference. ' ' On arriving at 
the frontier, I gave up my papers to the passport officials, 
and was then approached by the officers of the custom- 
house. One of these, a tall personage in showy uni- 
form, was very solenm, and presently asked: "Are you 
carrying out any specie?" I answered: "None to speak 
of ; only about twenty or thirty German dollars. ' ' Said he : 
' ' That you must give up to me ; the law of the empire does 
not permit you to take out coin." "No," I said; "you 
are mistaken. I have already had the money changed, 
and it is in German coin, not Russian. " " That makes no 
difference," said he; "you must give it up or stay here." 
My answer was that I would not give it up, and on this he 
commanded his subordinates to take my baggage off the 
coach. My traveling companions now besought me to 
make a quiet compromise with him, to give him half the 
money, telling me that I might be detained there for weeks 
or months, or even be maltreated; but I steadily refused, 
and my baggage was removed. All were ready to start 
when the head of the police bureau came upon the scene 
to return our papers. His first proceeding was to call 
out my name in a most obsequious tone, and, bowing rev- 
erently, to tender me my passport. I glanced at the cus- 
tom-house official, and saw that he turned pale. The honor 
done my little brief authority by the passport official 
revealed to him his mistake, and he immediately ordered 
his subordinates to replace my baggage on the coach ; but 
this I instantly forbade. He then came up to me and 
insisted that a misunderstanding had occurred. ' ' No, ' ' I 



474 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -II 

said; " there is no misunderstanding; you have only 
treated me as you have treated other Americans. The 
American minister has ordered me to wait here and inform 
him, and all that I have now to ask you is that you give 
me the name of a hotel." At this be begged me to listen 
to him, and presently was pleading most piteously ; indeed, 
he would have readily knelt and kissed my feet to secure 
my forgiveness. He became utterly abject. All were 
waiting, the coach stood open, the eyes of the whole party 
were fastened upon us. My comrades besought me to 
let the rascal go ; and at last, after a most earnest warning 
to him, I gave my gracious permission to have the bag- 
gage placed on the coach. He was certainly at that mo- 
ment one of the happiest men I have ever seen ; and, as we 
drove off from the station, he lingered long, hat in hand, 
profuse with bows and good wishes. 

One other occurrence during those seven days and 
nights of coaching may throw some light upon the feeling 
which has recently produced, in that same region, the 
KishinefY massacres. 

One pleasant Saturday evening, at a Polish village, our 
coach passed into the little green inclosure in front of 
the post-house, and there stopped for a change of horses. 
While waiting, I noticed, from my sentry-box on the top 
of the coach, several well-dressed people— by the cut of 
their beards and hair, Jews— standing at some distance 
outside the inclosure, and looking at us. Presently two 
of them— clearly, by their bearing and dress, men of 
mark— entered the inclosure, came near the coach, and 
stood quietly and respectfully. In a few moments my 
attention was attracted by a movement on the other side 
of the coach: our coachman, a young serf, was skulking 
rapidly toward the stables, and presently emerged with 
his long horsewhip, skulked swiftly back again until he 
came suddenly on these two grave and reverend men, 
—each of them doubtless wealthy enough to have bought 
a dozen like him,— began lashing them, and finally drove 
them out of the inclosure like dogs, the assembled crowd 
jeering and hooting after them. 



AS DESPATCH-BEARER IN WAR-TIME -1855 475 

Few evenings linger more pleasantly in my memory 
than that on which I arrived in Breslau. I was once more 
outside of the Russian Empire; and, as I settled for the 
evening before a kindly fire upon a cheerful hearth, there 
rose under my windows, from a rollicking band of univer- 
sity students, the ' ' Gaudeamus igitur. ' ' I seemed to have 
arrived in another world— a world which held home and 
friends. Then, as never before, I realized the feeling 
which the Marquis de Custine had revealed, to the amuse- 
ment of Europe and the disgust of the Emperor Nicholas, 
nearly twenty years before. The brilliant marquis, on his 
way to St. Petersburg, had stopped at Stettin; and, on 
his leaving the inn to take ship for Cronstadt next day, the 
innkeeper said to him: ""Well, you are going into a very 
bad country." "How so?" said De Custine; "when 
did you travel there?" "Never," answered the inn- 
keeper; "but I have kept this inn for many years. All 
the leading Russians, going and coming by sea, have 
stopped with me; and I have always noticed that those 
coming from Russia are very glad, and those returning 
very sad." 

Throughout the remainder of my journey across the 
Continent, considerable attention was shown me at vari- 
ous stopping-places, since travelers from within the Rus- 
sian lines at that time were rare indeed; but there was 
nothing worthy of note until my arrival at Strasburg. 
There, in the railway station, I was presented by a young 
Austrian nobleman to an American lady who was going 
on to Paris accompanied by her son ; and, as she was very 
agreeable, I was glad when we all found ourselves together 
in the same railway compartment. 

Some time after leaving Strasburg she said to me: "I 
don't think you caught my name at the station." To 
this I frankly replied that I had not. She then repeated it ; 
and I found her to be a distinguished leader in New York 
and Parisian society, the wife of an American widely 
known. As we rolled on toward Paris, I became vaguely 
aware that there was some trouble in our compartment; 
but, being occupied with a book, I paid little attention to 



476 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-II 

the matter. There were seven of us. Facing each other at 
one door were the American lady, whom I will call "Mrs. 
X., ' ' and myself ; at her left was her maid, then a vacant 
seat, and then at the other door a German lady, richly at- 
tired, evidently of high degree, and probably about fifty 
years of age. Facing this German lady sat an elegantly 
dressed young man of about thirty, also of aristocratic 
manners, and a German. Between this gentleman and my- 
self sat the son of Mrs. X. and the Austrian gentleman 
who had presented me to her. 

Presently Mrs. X. bent over toward me and asked, in 
an undertone, "What do you think is the relationship 
between those two people at the other door?" I answered 
that quite likely they were brother and sister. ' ' No, ' ' said 
she; "they are man and wife." I answered, "That can 
hardly be; there is a difference of at least twenty years 
in the young man's favor." "Depend upon it," she 
said, "they are man and wife; it is a mariage de conve- 
nance; she is dressed to look as young as possible." At 
this I expressed new doubts, and the discussion dropped. 

Presently the young German gentleman said some- 
thing to the lady opposite him which indicated that he 
had lived in Berlin; whereupon Mrs. X. asked him, di- 
agonally across the car, if he had been at the Berlin Uni- 
versity. At this he turned in some surprise and answered, 
civilly but coldly, ' ' Yes, madam. ' ' Then he turned away 
to converse with the lady who accompanied him. Mrs. X., 
nothing daunted, persisted, and asked, "Have you been 
recently at the university?" Before he could reply the 
lady opposite him turned to Mrs. X. and said most haugh- 
tily, ' ' Mon Dieu, madam, you must see that the gentleman 
does not desire any conversation with you." At this 
Mrs. X. became very humble, and rejoined most peni- 
tently, ' ' Madam, I beg your pardon ; if I had known that 
the gentleman's mother did not wish him to talk with a 
stranger, I would not have spoken to him." At this the 
German lady started as if stung, turned very red, and 
replied, "Pardon, madam, I am not the mother of the 



AS DESPATCH-BEARER IN WAR-TIME -1855 477 

gentleman." At this the humble manner of Mrs. X. was 
Hung off in an instant, and turning fiercely upon the 
German lady, she said, "Madam, since you are not 
the mother of the gentleman, and, of course, cannot be 
his wife, by what right do you interfere to prevent his 
answering me?" The lady thus addressed started again 
as if stabbed, turned pale, and gasped out, "Pardon, 
madam ; I am the wife of the gentleman. ' ' Instantly Mrs. 
X. became again penitently apologetic, and answered, 
"Madam, I beg a thousand pardons; I will not speak 
again to the gentleman"; and then, turning to me, said 
very solemnly, but loudly, so that all might hear, "Hea- 
vens! can it be possible!" 

By this time we were all in distress, the German lady 
almost in a state of collapse, and her husband hardly less 
so. At various times during the remainder of the journey 
I heard them affecting to laugh the matter off, but it was 
clear that the thrust from my fair compatriot had cut deep 
and would last long. 

Arriving at our destination, I obtained the key to the 
mystery. On taking leave of Mrs. X., I said, ' ' That was 
rather severe treatment which you administered to the 
German lady." "Yes," she answered; "it will teach her 
never again to go out of her way to insult an American 
woman." She then told me that the lady had been evi- 
dently vexed because Mrs. X. had brought her maid into 
the compartment; and that this aristocratic dame had 
shown her feeling by applying her handkerchief to her 
nose, by sniffing, and by various other signs of disgust. 
"And then," said Mrs. X., "I determined to teach her a 
lesson." 

I never saw Mrs. X. again. After a brilliant social ca- 
reer of a few years she died ; but her son, who was then a 
boy of twelve years, in a short jacket, has since become 
very prominent in Europe and America, and, in a way, in- 
fluential. 

In Paris I delivered my despatches to our minister, Mr. 
Mason ; was introduced to Baron Seebach, the Saxon min- 



478 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-II 

ister, Nesselrode's son-in-law, who was a leading person- 
age at the conference of the great powers then in 
session; and saw various interesting men, among them 
sundry young officers of the United States army, who 
were on their way to the Crimea in order to observe the 
warlike operations going on there, and one of them, 
McClellan, also on his way to the head of our own army 
in the Civil War which began a few years later. 

It was the time of the first great French Exposition— 
that of 1855. The Emperor Napoleon III had opened it 
with much pomp ; and, though the whole affair was petty 
compared with what we have known since, it attracted 
visitors from the whole world, and among them came 
Horace Greeley. 

As he shuffled along the boulevards and streets of Paris, 
in his mooning way, he attracted much wondering at- 
tention, but was himself very unhappy because his igno- 
rance of the French language prevented his talking with 
the people about him. 

He had just gone through a singular experience, having, 
the day before my arrival, been released from Clichy 
prison, where he had been confined for debt. Nothing 
could be more comical than the whole business from first 
to last. A year or two previously there had taken place 
in New York, on what has been since known as Reservoir 
Square, an international exposition which, for its day, 
was very creditable; but, this exposition having ended 
in bankruptcy, a new board of commissioners had been 
chosen, who, it was hoped, would secure public confidence, 
and among these was Mr. Greeley. 

Yet even under this new board the exposition had not 
been a success ; and it had been finally wound up in a very 
unsatisfactory way, many people complaining that their 
exhibits had not been returned to them— among these a 
French sculptor of more ambition than repute, who had 
sent a plaster cast of some sort of allegorical figure to 
which he attributed an enormous value. Having sought 
in vain for redress in America, he returned to Europe and 



AS DESPATCH-BEARER IN WAR-TIME- 1855 479 

there awaited the coming of some one of the directors; 
and the first of these whom he caught was no less a person 
than Greeley himself, who, soon after arriving in Paris, 
was arrested for the debt and taken to Clichy prison. 

Much feeling was shown by the American community. 
Every one knew that Mr. Greeley's connection with the 
New York exposition was merely of a good-natured, nomi- 
nal sort. It therefore became the fashion among travel- 
ing Americans to visit him while thus in durance vile; 
and among those who thus called upon him were two 
former Presidents of the United States, both of whom 
he had most bitterly opposed— Mr. Van Buren and Mr. 
Fillmore. 

The American legation having made very earnest rep- 
resentations, the prisoner was soon released ; and the most 
tangible result of the whole business was a letter, very 
pithy and characteristic, which Greeley wrote to the ' ' New 
York Tribune," giving this strange experience, and clos- 
ing with the words: "So ended my last chance to learn 
French. ' ' 

A day or two after his release I met him at the student 
restaurant of Madame Busque. A large company of 
Americans were present ; and shortly after taking his seat 
at table he tried to ask for some green string-beans, 
which were then in season. Addressing one of the serving- 
maids, he said, "Flawronce, donney moy— donney moy— 
donney moy—"; and then, unable to remember the word, 
he impatiently screamed out in a high treble, thrusting out 
his plate at the same time, "beans!" The crowd of us 
burst into laughter; whereupon Donn Piatt, then secre- 
tary of the legation at Paris and afterward editor of the 
"Capital" at Washington, said: "Why, Greeley, you 
don't improve a bit; you knew beans yesterday." 

This restaurant of Madame Busque 's had been, for 
some years, a place of resort for American students and 
their traveling friends. The few dishes served, though 
simple, were good; all was plain; there were no table- 
cloths ; but the place was made attractive by the portraits 



480 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-II 

of various American artists and students who had fre- 
quented the place in days gone by, and who had left these 
adornments to the good old madame. 

It was a simple cremerie in the Rue de la Michodiere, 
a little way out of the Boulevard des Italiens; and its 
success was due to the fact that Madame Busque, the kind- 
est old lady alive, had learned how to make sundry Ameri- 
can dishes, and had placed a sign in the window as fol- 
lows: "Aux Americains. Speciality de Pumpkin Pie et 
de Buckwheat Cakes." Never was there a more jolly 
restaurant. One met there, not only students and artists, 
hut some of the most eminent men in American public 
life. The specialties as given on the sign-board were well 
prepared ; and many were the lamentations when the dear 
old madame died, and the restaurant, being transferred 
to another part of Paris, became pretentious and fell into 
oblivion. 

Another occurrence at the exposition dwells vividly in 
my memory. One day, in going through the annex in which 
there was a show of domestic animals, I stopped for a mo- 
ment to look at a wonderful goat which was there tethered. 
He was very large, with a majestic head, spreading horns, 
and long, white, curly beard. Presently a party of French 
gentlemen and ladies, evidently of the higher class, came 
along and joined the crowd gazing at the animal. In a 
few moments one of the ladies, anxious to hurry on, said 
to the large and dignified elderly gentleman at the head of 
the party, "Mais viens done"; to which he answered, 
"Non, laisse moi le regarder; celui-la ressemble tant au 
bon Dieu. ' ' 

This remark, which in Great Britain or the United States 
would have aroused horror as blasphemy, was simply 
answered by a peal of laughter, and the party passed on ; 
yet I could not but reflect on the fact that this attitude 
toward the Supreme Being was possible after a fifteen 
hundred years ' monopoly of teaching by the church which 
insists that to it alone should be intrusted the religious 
instruction of the French people. 



AS DESPATCH-BEARER IN WAR-TIME-1855 481 

After staying a few weeks at the French capital, I left 
for a short tour in Switzerland. The only occurrence on 
this journey possibly worthy of note was at the hospice 
of the Great St. Bernard. On a day early in September I 
had walked over the Tete Noire with two long-legged 
Englishmen, and had so tired myself that the next morn- 
ing I was too late to catch the diligence from Martigny; 
so that, on awaking toward noon, there was nothing left 
for me but to walk, and I started on that rather toilsome 
journey alone. After plodding upward some miles along 
the road toward the hospice, I was very weary indeed, but 
felt that it would be dangerous to rest, since the banks of 
snow on both sides of the road would be sure to give me 
a deadly chill ; and I therefore kept steadily on. Pres- 
ently I overtook a small party, apparently English, also 
going up the pass; and, at some distance in advance of 
them, alone, a large woman with a very striking and even 
masculine face. I had certainly seen the face before, but 
where I could not imagine. Arriving finally at the hos- 
pice, very tired, we were, after some waiting, invited out 
to a good dinner by the two fathers deputed for the 
purpose; and there, among the guests, I again saw the 
lady, and was again puzzled to know where I had pre- 
viously seen her. As the dinner went on the two monks 
gave accounts of life at the hospice, rescues from ava- 
lanches, and the like, and various questions were asked; 
but the unknown lady sat perfectly still, uttering not a 
word, until suddenly, just at the close of the dinner, she 
put a question across the table to one of the fathers. It 
came almost like a peal of thunder— deep, strong, rolling 
through the room, startling all of us, and fairly taking the 
breath away from the good monk to whom it was ad- 
dressed ; but he presently rallied, and in a rather faltering 
tone made answer. That was all. But on this I at once 
recognized her : it was Fanny Kemble Butler, whom, years 
before, I had heard interpreting Shakspere. 

Whether this episode had anything to do with it or not, 
I soon found myself in rather a bad way. The fatigues of 

I.-31 



482 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-II 

the two previous days had been too much for me. I felt 
very wretched, and presently one of the brothers came up 
to me and asked whether I was ill. I answered that I 
was tired; whereupon he said kindly, "Come with me." 
I went. He took me to a neat, tidy little cell ; put me into 
bed as carefully as my grandmother had ever done ; tucked 
me in; brought me some weak, hot tea; and left me 
with various kind injunctions. Very early in the morning 
I was aroused by the singing of the monks in the chapel, 
but dozed on until eight or nine o'clock, when, feeling 
entirely rested, I rose and, after breakfast, left the monas- 
tery, with a party of newly made American friends, in as 
good condition as ever, and with a very grateful feeling 
toward my entertainers. Against monks generally I must 
confess to a prejudice ; but the memory of these brothers 
of St. Bernard I still cherish with a real affection. 

Stopping at various interesting historic places, and es- 
pecially at Eisenach, whence I made the first of my many 
visits to the Wartburg, I reached Berlin just before the 
beginning of the university term, and there settled as a 
student. So, as I then supposed, ended my diplomatic 
career forever. 






CHAPTER XXVIII 

AS COMMISSIONER TO SANTO DOMINGO — 1871 

RETURNING from Russia and Germany, I devoted 
i myself during thirteen years, first, to my professo- 
rial duties at the University of Michigan ; next, to political 
duties in the State Senate at Albany ; and, finally, to organ- 
izing and administering Cornell University. But in the 
early winter of 1870-71 came an event which drew me out 
of my university life for a time, and engaged me again in 
diplomatic work. While pursuing the even tenor of my 
way, there came a telegraphic despatch from Mr. William 
Orton, president of the Western Union Telegraph Com- 
pany, a devoted supporter of the administration, asking me 
whether I had formed any definite opinion against the an- 
nexation of the island of Santo Domingo to the United 
States. This question surprised me. A proposal regarding 
such an annexation had been for some time talked about. 
The newly elected President, General Grant, having been 
besought by the authorities of that republic to propose 
measures looking to annexation, had made a brief exami- 
nation; and Congress had passed a law authorizing the 
appointment of three commissioners to visit the island, to 
examine and report upon its desirability, from various 
points of view, and to ascertain, as far as possible, the 
feeling of its inhabitants; but I had given no attention 
to the matter, and therefore answered Mr. Orton that I 
had no opinion, one way or the other, regarding it. A 
day or two afterward came information that the President 
had named the commission, and in the following or- 

483 



484 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE- III 

der: Ex-Senator Benjamin F. Wade of Ohio, Andrew D. 
White of New York, and Samuel G. Howe of Massachu- 
setts. On receiving notice of my appointment,^ went to 
Washington, was at once admitted to an interview with the 
President, and rarely have I been more happily disap- 
pointed. Instead of the taciturn man who, as his enemies 
insisted, said nothing because he knew nothing, had 
never cared for anything save military matters, and was 
entirely absorbed in personal interests, I found a quiet, 
dignified public officer, who presented the history of 
the Santo Domingo question, and his view regarding it, in 
a manner large, thoughtful, and statesmanlike. There 
was no special pleading; no attempt at converting me: 
his whole effort seemed given to stating candidly the his- 
tory of the case thus far. 

There was much need of such statement. Mr. Charles 
Sumner, the eminent senator from Massachusetts, had 
completely broken with the President on this and other 
questions; had attacked the policy of the administration 
violently; had hinted at the supremacy of unworthy mo- 
tives; and had imputed rascality to men with whom the 
President had close relations. He appeared, also, as he 
claimed, in the interest of the republic of Haiti, which 
regarded with disfavor any acquisition by the United 
States of territory on the island of which that quasi- 
republic formed a part; and all his rhetoric and oratory 
were brought to bear against the President's ideas. I had 
long been an admirer of Mr. Sumner, with the feeling 
which a young man would naturally cherish toward an 
older man of such high character who had given him 
early recognition ; and I now approached him with especial 
gratitude and respect. But I soon saw that his view of the 
President was prejudiced, and his estimate of himself ab- 
normal. Though a senator of such high standing and so 
long in public affairs, he took himself almost too seri- 
ously ; and there had come a break between him, as chair- 
man of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, and 
President Grant's Secretary of State, Mr. Fish, who had 



AS COMMISSIONER TO SANTO DOMINGO -1871 485 

proved himself, as State senator, as Governor of New 
York, as United States senator, and now as Secretary of 
State, a man of the highest character and capacity. 

The friends of the administration claimed that it had 
become impossible for it to have any relations with Sena- 
tor Sumner ; that he delayed, and indeed suppressed, trea- 
ties of the greatest importance; that his egotism had be- 
come so colossal that he practically assumed to himself 
the entire conduct of foreign affairs ; and the whole matter 
reached a climax when, in a large social gathering, Mr. 
Fish meeting Senator Sumner and extending his hand to 
him, the latter deliberately rejected the courtesy and coldly 
turned away. 

Greatly admiring all these men, and deeply regretting 
their divisions, which seemed sure to prove most injuri- 
ous to the Republican party and to the country, I wrote to 
Mr. Gerrit Smith, urging him to come at once to Washing- 
ton and, as the lifelong friend of Senator Sumner and the 
devoted supporter of General Grant, to use his great pow- 
ers in bringing them together. He came and did his best ; 
but a few days afterward he said to me : ' ' It is impossible ; 
it is a breach which can never be healed. ' ' 

Mr. Sumner's speeches I had always greatly admired, 
and his plea for international peace, delivered before I 
was fairly out of my boyhood, had made a deep im- 
pression upon me. Still greater was the effect of his 
speeches against the extension of slavery. It is true 
that these speeches had little direct influence upon the 
Senate; but they certainly had an immense effect upon 
the country, and this effect was increased by the assault 
upon him by Preston Brooks of South Carolina, which 
nearly cost him his life, and from which he suffered 
physically as long as he lived. His influence was ex- 
ercised not only in the Senate, but in his own house. In his 
library he discussed, in a very interesting way, the main 
questions of the time ; and at his dinner-table one met in- 
teresting men from all parts of the world. At one of his 
dinners I had an opportunity to observe one of the diffi- 



486 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-III 

culties from which our country suffers most — namely, that 
easy-going facility in slander which is certain to be de- 
veloped in the absence of any effective legal responsibility 
for one's utterances. At the time referred to there was 
present an Englishman eminent in parliamentary and 
business circles. I sat next him, and near us sat a gentle- 
man who had held a subordinate position in the United 
States navy, but who was out of employment, and appar- 
ently for some reason which made him sore. On being 
asked by the Englishman why the famous American Col- 
lins Line of transatlantic steamers had not succeeded, this 
American burst into a tirade, declaring that it was all due 
to the fact that the Collins company had been obliged to 
waste its entire capital in bribing members of Congress 
to obtain subsidies ; that it had sunk all its funds in doing 
this, and so had become bankrupt. This I could not bear, 
and indignantly interposed, stating the simple facts— 
namely, that the ships of the company were built in the 
most expensive manner, without any sufficient data as to 
their chances of success; that the competition of the Cu- 
nard company had been destructive to them ; that, to cap 
the climax, two out of their fleet of five had been, at an early 
period in the history of the company, lost at sea; and I 
expressed my complete disbelief in any cause of failure 
like that which had been named. As a matter of fact, the 
Collins company, in their pride at the beauty of their 
first ship, had sent it up the Potomac to Washington and 
given a collation upon it to members of Congress; but 
beyond this there was not the slightest evidence of any- 
thing of the sort which the slanderer of his country had 
brought forward. 

As regards the Santo Domingo question, I must confess 
that Mr. Sumner's speeches did not give me much light; 
they seemed to me simply academic orations tinged by 
anger. 

Far different was it with the speeches made on the same 
side by Senator Carl Schurz. In them was a restrained 
strength of argument and a philosophic dealing with the 



AS COMMISSIONER TO SANTO DOMINGO-1871 487 

question which appealed both to reason and to patriot- 
ism. His argument as to the danger of extending the 
domain of American institutions and the privileges of 
American citizenship over regions like the West Indies 
carried great weight with me ; it was the calm, thoughtful 
utterance of a man accustomed to look at large public 
questions in the light of human history, and, while reason- 
ing upon them philosophically and eloquently, to observe 
strict rules of logic. 

I also had talks with various leading men at Washington 
on the general subject. Very interesting was an evening 
passed with Admiral Porter of the navy, who had already 
visited Santo Domingo, and who gave me valuable points 
as to choosing routes and securing information. Another 
person with whom I had some conversation was Benjamin 
Franklin Butler, previously a general in the Civil War, 
and afterward governor of Massachusetts— a man of 
amazing abilities, but with a certain recklessness in the use 
of them which had brought him into nearly universal dis- 
credit. His ideas regarding the annexation of Santo Do- 
mingo seemed to resolve themselves, after all, into a 
feeling of utter indifference,— his main effort being to 
secure positions for one or two of his friends as attaches 
of the commission. 

At various times I talked with the President on this and 
other subjects, and was more and more impressed, not only 
by his patriotism, but by his ability ; and as I took leave 
of him, he gave me one charge for which I shall always 
revere his memory. 

He said : ' ' Your duties are, of course, imposed upon you 
by Congress ; I have no right as President to give you in- 
structions, but as a man I have a right in this matter. You 
have doubtless noticed hints in Congress, and charges in 
various newspapers, that I am financially interested in the 
acquisition of Santo Domingo. Now, as a man, as your 
fellow-citizen, I demand that on your arrival in the is- 
land, you examine thoroughly into all American interests 
there; that you study land titles and contracts with the 



488 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -III 

utmost care ; and that if you find anything whatever which 
connects me or any of my family with any of them, you 
expose me to the American people." The President ut- 
tered these words in a tone of deep earnestness. I left him, 
feeling that he was an honest man ; and I may add that the 
closest examination of men and documents relating to 
titles and concessions in the island failed to reveal any 
personal interest of his whatsoever. 

Arriving next day in New York, I met the other com- 
missioners, with the secretaries, interpreters, attaches, and 
various members of the press who were authorized to ac- 
company the expedition. Most interesting of all to me 
were the scientific experts. It is a curious example of the 
happy-go-lucky ways which prevail so frequently at Wash- 
ington, that although the resolutions of Congress required 
the commissioners to examine into the mining and agricul- 
tural capacities of the island, its meteorological character- 
istics, its harbors and the possibilities of fortifying them, 
its land tenures, and a multitude of other subjects de- 
manding the aid of experts, no provision was made for any 
such aid, and the three commissioners and their secretaries, 
not one of whom could be considered as entitled to hold 
a decisive opinion on any of these subjects, were the only 
persons expected to conduct the inquiry. Seeing this, I 
represented the matter to the President, and received his 
permission to telegraph to presidents of several of our 
leading universities asking them to secure for us active 
young scientific men who would be willing to serve on the 
expedition without salary. The effort was successful. 
Having secured at the Smithsonian Institution two or 
three good specialists in sundry fields, I obtained from 
Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, and other universities 
the right sort of men for various other lines of investiga- 
tion, and on the 17th of January, 1871, we all embarked 
on the steam-frigate Tennessee, under the command of 
Commodore Temple. 

It fell to my lot to take a leading part in sending forth 
our scientific experts into all parts of the republic. Four- 



AS COMMISSIONER TO SANTO DOMINGO-1871 489 

teen different expeditions were thus organized and des- 
patched, and these made careful examinations and re- 
ports which were wrought into the final report of the com- 
mission. It is doubtful whether any country was ever so 
thoroughly examined in so short a time. One party visited 
various harbors with reference to their value for naval or 
military purposes; another took as its subject the neces- 
sary fortifications ; another, agriculture ; another, the coal 
supply ; another, the precious metals ; another, the prevail- 
ing epidemics and diseases of the country ; while the com- 
mission itself adjourned from place to place, taking testi- 
mony on land tenures and on the general conditions and 
disposition of the people. 

I became much attached to my colleagues. The first of 
these, Senator Wade of Ohio, was bluff, direct, shrewd, 
and well preserved, though over seventy years of age. 
He was a rough diamond, kindly in his judgments unless 
his feeling of justice was injured ; then he was implacable. 
Many sayings of his were current, among them a dry an- 
swer to a senator from Texas who, having dwelt in high- 
flown discourse on the superlative characteristics of the 
State he represented, wound up all by saying, "All that 
Texas needs to make it a paradise is water and good so- 
ciety, ' ' to which Wade instantly replied, ' ' That 's all they 
need in hell." The nimbleness and shrewdness of some 
public men he failed to appreciate. On his saying some- 
thing to me rather unfavorable to a noted statesman of 
New England, I answered him, "But, senator, he made an 
admirable Speaker of the House of Representatives." To 
which he answered, ' ' So would a squirrel if he could talk. ' ' 

Dr. Howe was a very different sort of man— a man of 
the highest cultivation and of wide experience, who had de- 
voted his whole life to philanthropic efforts. He had been 
imprisoned in Spandau for attempting to aid the Poles; 
had narrowly escaped with his life while struggling in 
Greece against Turkey; and had braved death again and 
again while aiding the free-State men against the pro- 
slavery myrmidons of Kansas. He told me that of all 



490 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -III 

these three experiences, he considered the last as by far 
the most dangerous. He had a high sense of personal 
honor, and was devoted to what he considered the interests 
of humanity. 

Our main residence was at the city of Santo Domingo, 
and our relations with the leading officials of the republic 
were exceedingly pleasant. The president, Baez, was a 
man of force and ability, and, though a light mulatto, he 
had none of the characteristics generally attributed in the 
United States to men of mixed blood. He had rather the 
appearance of a swarthy Spaniard, and in all his conduct 
he showed quiet self-reliance, independence, and the tone of 
a high-spirited gentleman. His family was noted in the his- 
tory of the island, and held large estates, near the capital 
city, in the province of Azua. He had gone through various 
vicissitudes, at times conquering insurgents and at times 
being driven out by them. During a portion of his life he 
had lived in Spain, and had there been made a marshal of 
that kingdom. There was a quiet elegance in his manners 
and conversation which would have done credit to any 
statesman in any country, and he had gathered about him 
as his cabinet two or three really superior men who ap- 
peared devoted to his fortunes. I have never doubted that 
his overtures to General Grant were patriotic. As long as 
he could remember, he had known nothing in his country 
but a succession of sterile revolutions which had destroyed 
all its prosperity and nearly all its population. He took 
very much to heart a passage in one of Mr. Sumner's ora- 
tions against the annexation project, in which the senator 
had spoken of him as a man who wished to sell his country. 
Referring to this, President Baez said to me: "How could 
I sell my country? My property is here; my family is 
here; my friends are here; all my interests are here: 
how could I sell my country and run away and enjoy the 
proceeds as Mr. Sumner thinks I wish to do 1 Mr. Sumner 
gives himself out to be the friend of the colored race ; but 
I also am a colored man, " and with that Baez ran his hand 
through his crisp hair and said, "This leaves no doubt on 
that point." 



AS COMMISSIONER TO SANTO DOMINGO-1871 491 

We discussed at various times the condition of his coun- 
try and the relations which he desired to establish with 
the United States, and I became more and more convinced 
that his dominant motives were those of a patriot. As a 
matter of fact, the country under the prevailing system 
was a ruin. West of it was the republic of Haiti, more 
than twice as populous, which from time to time en- 
croached upon its weaker sister. In Santo Domingo itself, 
under one revolutionist after another, war had raged over 
the entire territory of the republic year after year for 
generations. Traveling through the republic, it is a sim- 
ple fact that I never, in its entire domain, saw a bridge, a 
plow, a spade, a shovel, or a hoe; the only implement we 
saw was the machete— a. heavy, rude instrument which 
served as a sword in war and a spade in peace. Every- 
where among the mountains I found magnificent squared 
logs of the beautiful mahogany of the country left just 
where the teams which had been drawing them had been 
seized by revolutionists. 

In one of the large interior towns there had been, in- 
deed, one evidence of civilization to which the people of 
that region had pointed with pride— a steam-engine for 
sawing timber; but sometime before my arrival one of 
the innumerable petty revolutions had left it a mere mass 
of rusty scraps. 

Under the natural law of increase the population of the 
republic should have been numbered in millions ; but close 
examination, in all parts of its territory, showed us that 
there were not two hundred thousand inhabitants left, and 
that of these about one half were mulattos, the other half 
being about equally divided between blacks and whites. 

Since my visit business men from the United States 
have developed the country to some extent; but revolu- 
tions have continued, each chieftain getting into place by 
orating loudly about liberty, and then holding power by 
murdering not only his enemies, but those whom he 
thought likely to become his enemies. 

The late president, Heureaux, was one of the most mon- 



492 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-HI 

strous of these creatures who have found their breeding- 
bed in Central American politics. He seems to have mur- 
dered, as far as possible, not only all who opposed him, 
but all who, he thought, might oppose him, and even 
members of their families. 

It was not at all surprising that Baez, clear-sighted and 
experienced as he was, saw an advantage to his country 
in annexation to the United States. He probably ex- 
pected that it would be, at first, a Territory of which he, as 
the foremost man in the island, would become governor, 
and that later it would come into the Union as a State 
which he would be quite likely to represent in the United 
States Senate. At a later period, when I saw him in New 
York, on his way to visit the President at Washington, 
my favorable opinion of him was confirmed. He was 
quiet, dignified, manly, showing himself, in his conversa- 
tion and conduct, a self-respecting man of the world, ac- 
customed to manage large affairs and to deal with strong 
men. 

The same desire to annex the island to the United States 
was evident among the clergy. This at first surprised me, 
for some of them were exceedingly fanatical, and one 
of them, who was especially civil to us, had endeavored, a 
few months before our arrival, to prevent the proper 
burial of a charming American lady, the wife of the 
American geologist of the government, under the old 
Spanish view that, not being a Catholic, she should be 
buried outside the cemetery upon the commons, like a dog. 
But the desire for peace and for a reasonable develop- 
ment of the country, even under a government considered 
heretical, was everywhere evident. 

It became my duty to discuss the question of church 
property with the papal nuncio and vicar apostolic. He 
was an archbishop who had been sent over to take tem- 
porary charge of ecclesiastical matters; of course a most 
earnest Roman Catholic, but thoroughly devoted to the 
annexation of the island to the United States, and the 
reason for his opinion was soon evident. Throughout the 



AS COMMISSIONER TO SANTO DOMINGO- 1871 493 

entire island one constantly sees great buildings and other 
church property which have been confiscated and sold for 
secular purposes. In the city itself the opera-house was 
a former church, which in its day had been very impos- 
ing, and everywhere one saw monastery estates in private 
hands. The authorities in Santo Domingo had simply 
pursued the policy so well known in various Latin coun- 
tries, and especially in France, Italy, and Spain, of allow- 
ing the religious orders to absorb large masses of prop- 
erty, and then squeezing it out of them into the coffers 
of the state. 

In view of this, I said to the papal nuncio that it was 
very important for the United States, in considering the 
question of annexing the island, to know what the church 
claimed; that if the church demanded the restoration of 
all that had been taken from her, this would certainly 
greatly diminish the value of the island in the eyes of our 
public men. To this he answered that in case of annexa- 
tion the church would claim nothing whatever beyond 
what it was absolutely and actually occupying and using 
for its own purposes, and he offered to give me guaran- 
tees to that effect which should be full and explicit. 

It was perfectly clear that the church authorities pre- 
ferred to be under a government which, even though they 
regarded it as Protestant, could secure them their prop- 
erty, rather than to be subject to a Roman Catholic re- 
public in which they were liable to constantly recurring 
spoliation. This I found to be the spirit of the clergy of 
every grade in all parts of the island : they had discovered 
that under the Constitution of the United States confis- 
cation without compensation is impossible. 

It also fell to my lot, as the youngest man in the com- 
mission, to conduct an expedition across the mountains 
from the city of Santo Domingo on the south coast to 
Puerto Plata on the north. 

During this journey, on which I was about ten days in 
the saddle, it was my duty to confer with the principal 
functionaries, and this gave me novel experiences. When- 



494 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -III 

ever our cavalcade approached a town, we halted, a mes- 
senger was sent forward, and soon the alcalde, the priests, 
and other men of light and leading, with a long train of 
functionaries, came dashing out on horseback to greet us ; 
introductions then took place, and, finally, there was a 
wild gallop into the town to the house of the alcalde, 
where speeches were made and compliments exchanged in 
the high Spanish manner. 

At the outset there was a mishap. As we were organiz- 
ing our expedition, the gentlemen charged with purchasing 
supplies assured me that if we wished to secure proper 
consideration of the annexation question by the principal 
men of the various towns, we must exercise a large if 
simple hospitality, and that social gatherings without rum 
punch would be offensive rather than propitiatory. The 
order to lay in a sufficient spirituous supply was reluc- 
tantly given, and in due time we started, one of our train 
of pack-horses having on each side of the saddle large 
demijohns of the fluid which was to be so potent for 
diplomatic purposes. At the close of the first day's travel, 
just as our hammocks had been swung, I heard a scream 
and saw the people of our own and neighboring huts 
snatching cups and glasses and running pell-mell toward 
the point where our animals were tethered. On examina- 
tion I found that the horse intrusted with the precious 
burden, having been relieved of part of his load, had felt 
warranted in disporting himself, and had finally rolled 
over, crushing all the demijohns. It seemed a serious mat- 
ter, but I cannot say that it afflicted me much; we pro- 
pitiated the local functionaries by other forms of hospi- 
tality, and I never found that the absence of rum punch 
seriously injured our diplomacy. 

Civil war had been recently raging throughout the re- 
public, and in one of the interior towns I was one day no- 
tified that a well-known guerrilla general, who had shown 
great bravery in behalf of the Baez government, wished 
a public interview. The meeting took place in the large 
room of the house which had been assigned me. The 



AS COMMISSIONER TO SANTO DOMINGO- 1871 495 

mountain chieftain entered, bearing a rifle, and, the first 
salutations having been exchanged, he struck an oratori- 
cal attitude, and after expressing, in a loud harangue, his 
high consideration for the United States, for its represen- 
tative, and for all present, he solemnly tendered the rifle 
to me, saying that he had taken it in battle from Luperon, 
the arch-enemy of his country, and could think of no other 
bestowal so worthy of it. This gift somewhat discon- 
certed me. In the bitterness of party feeling at home re- 
garding the Santo Domingo question, how would it look 
for one of the commissioners to accept such a present? 
President Grant had been held up to obloquy throughout 
the whole length and breadth of the land for accepting a 
dog; what, then, would happen to a diplomatic represen- 
tative who should accept a rifle? Connected with the ex- 
jDedition were some twenty or thirty representatives of the 
l^ress, and I could easily see how my acceptance of such 
a gift would alarm the sensitive consciences of many of 
them and be enlarged and embroidered until the United 
States would resound with indignant outcry against a com- 
mission which accepted presents and was probably won 
over by contracts for artillery. My first attempt was to 
evade the difficulty. Rifle in hand, I acknowledged my ap- 
preciation of the gift, but declared to the general that my 
keeping such a trophy would certainly be a wrong to his 
family; that I would therefore accept it and transmit it 
to his son, to be handed down from generation to genera- 
tion of his descendants as an heirloom and a monument 
of bravery and patriotism. I was just congratulating my- 
self on this bit of extemporized diplomacy, when a cloud 
began to gather on the general's face, and presently he 
broke forth, saying that he regretted to find his present 
not good enough to be accepted; that it was the best he 
had; that if he had possessed anything better he would 
have brought it. At this, two or three gentlemen in our 
party pressed around me, and, in undertones, advised me 
by all means to accept it. There was no alternative ; I 
accepted the rifle in as sonorous words as I could muster 



496 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -III 

—"in behalf of the Government of the United States" ; 
had it placed immediately in a large box with the words 
"War Department" upon it, in very staring letters; and 
so the matter ended. Fortunately the commission, though 
attacked for a multitude of sins, escaped censure in this 
matter. 

One part of our duty was somewhat peculiar. The 
United States, a few years before, had been on the point 
of concluding negotiations with Denmark for the purchase 
of St. Thomas, when a volcanic disturbance threw an 
American frigate in the harbor of that island upon the 
shore, utterly wrecking both the vessel and the treaty. 
This experience it was which led to the insertion of a 
clause in the Congressional instructions to the commission 
requiring them to make examinations regarding the fre- 
quency and severity of earthquakes. This duty we dis- 
charged faithfully, and on one occasion with a result in- 
teresting both to students of history and of psychology. 
Arriving at the old town of Cotuy, among the mountains, 
and returning the vicar 's call, after my public reception, I 
asked him the stereotyped question regarding earthquakes, 
and was answered that about the year 1840 there had 
been one of a very terrible sort; that it had shaken and 
broken his great stone church very badly ; that he had re- 
paired the whole structure, except the gaping crevice 
above the front entrance ; ' ' and, ' ' said the good old padre, 
"that I left as a warning to my people, thinking that it 
might have a good influence upon them." On visiting the 
church, we found the crevice as the padre had described it ; 
but his reasoning was especially interesting, because it 
corroborated the contention of Buckle, who, but a few 
years before, in his "History of Civilization in England," 
had stated that earthquakes and volcanoes had aided the 
clergy of southern countries in maintaining superstition, 
and who had afterward defended this view with great 
wealth of learning when it was attacked by a writer in the 
"Edinburgh Review." Certainly this Santo Domingo 
example was on the side of the historian. 



AS COMMISSIONER TO SANTO DOMINGO- 1871 497 

Another day brought us to Vega, noted as the point 
where Columbus reared his standard above the wonderful 
interior valley of the island ; and there we were welcomed, 
as usual, by the officials, and, among them, by a tall, ascetic- 
looking priest who spoke French. Returning his call next 
day, I was shown into his presence in a room utterly bare 
of all ornament save a large and beautiful photograph of 
the Cathedral of Tours. It had happened to me, just after 
my college days, to travel on foot through a large part of 
northern, western, and middle France, especially interest- 
ing myself in cathedral architecture ; and as my eye caught 
this photograph I said, "Father, what a beautiful picture 
you have of the Church of St. Gatien ! ' ' The countenance 
of the priest, who had at first received me very ceremoni- 
ously and coldly, was instantly changed ; he looked at me 
for a moment, and then threw his arms about me. It was 
pathetic: of all who had ever entered his door I was 
probably the only one who had recognized the picture of 
the cathedral where he had been ordained ; and, above all, 
by a curious inspiration which I cannot to this hour ac- 
count for, I had recognized it by the name of the saint to 
whom it is dedicated. Why I did not speak of it simply 
as the Cathedral of Tours I know not ; how I came to re- 
member that it was dedicated to St. Gatien I know not; 
but this fact evidently loosened the cords of the father's 
heart, and during my stay at Vega he was devoted to me ; 
giving me information of the greatest value regarding 
the people, their habits, their diseases, and the like, much 
of which, up to that moment, the commission and its sub- 
ordinates had vainly endeavored to secure. 

And here I recall one thing which struck me as signifi- 
cant. This ascetic French priest was very severe in con- 
demnation of the old Spanish priesthood of the island. 
When I asked him regarding the morals of the people he 
answered, "How can you expect good morals in them 
when their pastors set such bad examples?" It was 
evident that the church authorities at Rome were of his 
opinion; for in nearly every town I found not only a 

I.— 32 



498 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE- III 

jolly, kindly, easy-going old Spanish padre, surrounded 
by "nephews" and "nieces," but a more austere ecclesi- 
astic recently arrived from France or Italy. 

In the impressions made upon me by this long and 
tedious journey across the island, pleasure and pain were 
constantly mingled. On one hand was the wonderful 
beauty of the scenery, the luxuriance of the vegetation, 
and the bracing warmth of the climate, while the United 
States were going through a winter more than usually 
bitter. 

But, on the other hand, the whole condition of the coun- 
try seemed to indicate that the early Spanish rulers had 
left a curse upon it from which it had never recovered. 
Its inhabitants, in revolution after revolution, had de- 
stroyed all industry and industrial appliances, and had 
virtually eaten up each other ; generation after generation 
had thus been almost entirely destroyed. 

Finally, after nearly a fortnight of clambering over 
mountains, pushing through tropical thickets, fording 
streams, and negotiating in palm huts, we approached the 
sea ; and suddenly, on the north side of the island, at the 
top of the mountain back of Puerto Plata, we looked far 
down upon its beautiful harbor, in the midst of which, 
like a fly upon a mirror, lay our trim little frigate Nan- 
tasket. 

The vice-president of the republic, surrounded by the 
representatives of the city, having welcomed us with the 
usual speeches, we pushed forward to the vice-presiden- 
tial villa, where I was to be lodged. 

Having no other dress with me than my traveler's out- 
fit, of which the main features were a flaming red flannel 
shirt, a poncho, and a sombrero, and having been invited 
to dine that evening at the house of my host, with the 
various consuls and other leaders of the place, I ordered 
two of my men to hurry down the mountain, and out to 
the frigate, to bring in my leather trunk containing a 
costume more worthy of the expected ceremony; and 
hardly were we comfortably established under the roof of 



AS COMMISSIONER TO SANTO DOMINGO- 1871 499 

the vice-president, when two sailors came in, bringing the 
precious burden. 

Now came a catastrophe. Turning the key, I noticed 
that the brass fittings of the lock were covered with verdi- 
gris, and, as the trunk opened, I shrank back in horror. It 
was filled, apparently, with a mass of mossy white-and- 
green mold from which cockroaches of enormous size 
darted in all directions. 

Hastily pulling down the cover, I called a council of 
war; the main personages in it being my private secre- 
tary, Professor Crane, since acting president of Cornell 
University, and sundry of the more important men in the 
expedition. To these I explained the situation. It seemed 
bad enough to lose all means of presenting a suitable ap- 
pearance at the approaching festivity, but this was no- 
thing compared with the idea that I had requited the hos- 
pitality of my host by spreading through his house this 
hideous entomological collection. 

But as I exposed this latter feature of the situation, I 
noticed a smile coining over the faces of my Dominican 
attendants, and presently one of them remarked that the 
cockroaches I had brought would find plenty of compan- 
ions; that the house was doubtless already full of them. 
This was a great relief to my conscience. The trunk was 
removed, and presently the clothing, in which I was to 
be arrayed for the evening, was brought in. It seemed in 
a fearful condition, but, curiously enough, while boots, 
shoes, and, above all, a package of white gloves care- 
fully reserved for grand ceremonies, had been nearly de- 
voured, the garments of various sorts had escaped fairly 
well. 

The next thing in order being the preparation of my 
apparel for use, the men proceeded first to deluge it with 
carbolic acid; and then, after drying it on the balconies 
in front of the vice-president's house, to mitigate the 
invincible carbolic odor by copious drenchings of Florida 
water. All day long they were thus at work making 
ready for the evening ceremony. In due time it ar- 



500 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-HI 

rived ; and, finally, after a sumptuous . entertainment, I 
stood before the assembled consuls and other magnates. 
Probably no one of them remembers a word of my dis- 
course; but doubtless every survivor will agree that no 
speaker, before or since, ever made to him an appeal of 
such pungency. I pervaded the whole atmosphere of the 
place; indeed, the town itself seemed to me, as long as I 
remained in it, to reek of that strange mixture of carbolic 
acid and Florida water; and as soon as possible after 
reaching the ship, the contents of the trunk were thrown 
overboard, and life became less a burden. 

Having been duly escorted to the Nantasket, and re- 
ceived heartily by Commander McCook, I was assigned 
his own cabin, but soon thought it expedient to get out of 
it and sleep on deck. The fact was that the companions 
of my cockroaches had possession of the ship, and, to all 
appearance, their headquarters were in the captain's 
room. I therefore ordered my bed on deck ; and, though 
it was February, passed two delightful nights in that 
balmy atmosphere of the tropical seas while we skirted 
the north side of the island until, at Port-au-Prince, I re- 
joined the other commissioners, who had come in the Ten- 
nessee along the southern coast. 

At the Haitian capital our commission had interviews 
with the president, his cabinet, and others, and afterward 
we had time to look about us. Few things could be more 
dispiriting. The city had been burned again and again, and 
there had arisen a tangle of streets displaying every sort 
of cheap absurdity in architecture. The effects of the re- 
cent revolution— the latest in a long series of civic con- 
vulsions, cruel and sterile— were evident on all sides. On 
the slope above the city had stood the former residence of 
the French governor : it had been a beautiful palace, and, 
being so far from the sea, had, until the recent revolution, 
escaped unharmed; but during that last effort a squad 
of miscreants, howling the praises of liberty, having got 
possession of a small armed vessel in the harbor and found 
upon it a rifled cannon of long range, had exercised their 



AS COMMISSIONER TO SANTO DOMINGO-1871 501 

monkeyish passion for destruction by wantonly firing 
upon this beautiful structure. It now lay in ruins. In its 
main staircase an iron ring was pointed out to us, and we 
were given the following chronicle. 

During the recent revolution the fugitive President 
Salnave had been captured, a leathern thong had been 
rudely drawn through a gash in his hand, and, attached 
by this to a cavalryman, he had been dragged up the hill 
to the palace, through the crowd which had but recently 
hurrahed for him, but which now jeered and pelted him. 
Arriving upon the scene of his former glory, he was at- 
tached by the thong to this iron ring and shot. 

Opposite the palace was the ruin of a mausoleum, and 
in the street were scattered fragments of marble sar- 
cophagi beautifully sculptured: these had contained the 
bodies of former rulers, but the revolutionists of Haiti, 
imitating those of 1793 in France, as apes imitate men, 
had torn the corpses out of them and had then scattered 
these, with the fragments of their monuments, through the 
streets. 

In the markets of the city we had ample experience 
of the advantage arising from unlimited paper money. 
Successive governments had kept themselves afloat by new 
issues of currency, until its purchasing power was reduced 
almost to nothing. Preposterous sums were demanded for 
the simplest articles : hundreds of dollars for a basket of 
fruit, and thousands of dollars for a straw hat. 

With us as one of our secretaries was Frederick Doug- 
lass, the gifted son of an eminent Virginian and a slave wo- 
man,— one of the two or three most talented men of color I 
have ever known. Up to this time he had cherished many 
hopes that his race, if set free, would improve ; but it was 
evident that this experience in Santo Domingo discour- 
aged and depressed him. He said to one of us, ' ' If this is 
the outcome of self-government by my race, Heaven help 
us!" 

Another curious example bearing on the same subject 
was furnished us in Jamaica, whither we went after leav- 



502 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -III 

ing Haiti. Our wish was to consult, on our way home, the 
former president of the Haitian republic, Geffrard,— 
who was then living in exile near Kingston. We found 
him in a beautiful apartment, elegantly furnished ; and in 
every way he seemed superior to the officials whom we 
had met at Port-au-Prince. He was a light mulatto, in- 
telligent, quiet, dignified, and able to state his views with- 
out undue emphasis. His wife was very agreeable, and 
his daughter, though clearly of a melancholic tempera- 
ment, one of the most beautiful young women I have ever 
seen. The reason for her melancholy was evident to any 
one who knew her father 's history. He had gone through 
many political storms before he had fled from Haiti, and 
in one of these his enemies had fired through the windows 
of his house and killed his other daughter. 

He calmly discussed with us the condition of the island, 
and evidently believed that the only way to save it from 
utter barbarism was to put it under the control of some 
civilized power. 

Interesting as were his opinions, he and his family, as 
we saw them in their daily life, were still more so. It 
was a revelation to us all of what the colored race might 
become in a land where it is under no social ban. For 
generations he and his had been the equals of the best 
people they had met in France and in Haiti; they had 
been guests at the dinners of ministers and at the soirees 
of savants in the French capital ; there was nothing about 
them of that deprecatory sort which one sees so constantly 
in men and women with African blood in their veins in 
lands where their race has recently been held in servitude. 

And here I may again cite the case of President Baez— 
a man to whom it probably never occurred that he was not 
the equal socially of the best men he met, and who in any 
European country would be at once regarded as a man 
of mark, and welcomed at any gathering of notables. 

Among our excursions, while in Jamaica, was one to 
Spanish Town, the residence of the British governor. 
In the drawing-room of His Excellency's wife there was 



AS COMMISSIONER TO SANTO DOMINGO- 1871 503 

shown ns one rather curious detail. Not long before our 
visit, the legislature had been abolished and the island 
had been made a crown colony ruled by a royal governor 
and council ; therefore it was that, there being no further 
use for it, the gorgeous chair of "Mr. Speaker," a huge 
construction apparently of carved oak, had been trans- 
ferred to her ladyship's drawing-room, and we were in- 
formed that in this she received her guests. 

From Kingston we came to Key West, and from that 
point to Charleston, where, as our frigate was too large to 
cross the bar, we were taken off, and thence reached Wash- 
ington by rail. 

One detail regarding those latter days of our commis- 
sion is perhaps worthy of record as throwing light on a 
seamy side of American life. From first to last we had 
shown every possible civility to the representatives of the 
press who had accompanied us on the frigate, constantly 
taking them with us in Santo Domingo and elsewhere, 
and giving them every facility for collecting information. 
But from time to time things occurred which threw a new 
and somewhat unpleasant light on the way misinformation 
is liberally purveyed to the American public. One day 
one of these gentlemen, the representative of a leading 
New York daily, talking with me of the sort of news his 
paper required, said, "The managers of our paper don't 
care for serious information, such as particulars regarding 
the country we visit, its inhabitants, etc., etc. ; what they 
want, above all, is something of a personal nature, such as 
a quarrel or squabble, and when one occurs they expect us 
to make the most of it. ' ' 

I thought no more of this until I arrived at Port-au- 
Prince, where I found that this gentleman had suddenly 
taken the mail-steamer for New York on the plea of ur- 
gent business. The real cause of his departure was soon 
apparent. His letters to the paper he served now began 
to come back to us, and it was found that he had exer- 
cised his imagination vigorously. He had presented a 
mass of sensational inventions, but his genius had been 



504 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -III 

especially exercised in trumping up quarrels which had 
never taken place ; his masterpiece being an account of a 
bitter struggle between Senator Wade and myself. As 
a matter of fact, there had never been between us the 
slightest ill-feeling ; the old senator had been like a father 
to me from first to last. 

The same sort of thing was done by sundry other press 
prostitutes, both during our stay in the West Indies and 
at Washington ; but I am happy to say that several of the 
correspondents were men who took their duties seriously, 
and really rendered a service to the American public by 
giving information worth having. 

Our journey from Charleston to Washington had one 
episode perhaps worthy of recording, as showing a pe- 
culiarity of local feeling at that time. Through all the long 
day we had little or nothing to eat, and looked forward 
ravenously to the dinner on board the Potomac steamer. 
But on reaching it and entering the dining-room, we found 
that our secretary, Mr. Frederick Douglass, was abso- 
lutely refused admittance. He, a man who had dined 
with the foremost statesmen and scholars of our Northern 
States and of Europe,— a man who by his dignity, ability, 
and elegant manners was fit to honor any company,— was, 
on account of his light tinge of African blood, not thought 
fit to sit at meat with the motley crowd on a Potomac 
steamer. This being the case, Dr. Howe and myself de- 
clined to dine, and so reached Washington, about mid- 
night, almost starving, thus experiencing, at a low price, 
the pangs and glories of martyrdom. 

One discovery made by the commission on its return 
ought to be mentioned here, for the truth of history. Mr. 
Sumner, in his speeches before the Senate, had made a 
strong point by contrasting the conduct of the United 
States with that of Spain toward Santo Domingo. He 
had insisted that the conduct of Spain had been far more 
honorable than that of the United States ; that Spain had 
brought no pressure to bear upon the Dominican repub- 
lic ; that when Santo Domingo had accepted Spanish rule, 



AS COMMISSIONER TO SANTO DOMINGO -1871 505 

some years before, it had done so of its own free will ; and 
that "not a single Spanish vessel was then in its waters, 
nor a single Spanish sailor upon its soil." On the other 
hand, he insisted that the conduct of the United States had 
been the very opposite of this ; that it had brought pres- 
sure to bear upon the little island republic ; and that when 
the decision was made in favor of our country, there were 
American ships off the coast and American soldiers upon 
the island. To prove this statement, he read from a speech 
of the Spanish prime minister published in the official 
paper of the Spanish government at Madrid. To our 
great surprise, we found, on arriving at the island, that 
this statement was not correct; that when the action in 
favor of annexation to Spain took place, Spanish ships 
were upon the coast and Spanish soldiers upon the 
island; and that there had been far more appearance 
of pressure at that time than afterward, when the little 
republic sought admission to the American Union. One 
of our first efforts, therefore, on returning, was to 
find a copy of this official paper, for the purpose of 
discovering how it was that the leader of the Spanish 
ministry had uttered so grave an untruth. The Span- 
ish newspaper was missing from the library of Con- 
gress ; but at last Dr. Howe, the third commissioner, a life- 
long and deeply attached friend of Mr. Sumner, found it 
in the library of the senator. The passage which Mr. 
Sumner had quoted was carefully marked ; it was simply 
to the effect that when the first proceedings looking toward 
annexation to Spain were initiated, there were no Spanish 
ships in those waters, nor Spanish soldiers on shore. This 
was, however, equally true of the United States ; for when 
proceedings were begun in Santo Domingo looking to an- 
nexation, there was not an American ship off the coast, nor 
an American soldier on the island. 

But the painful thing in the matter was that, had Mr. 
Sumner read the sentence immediately following that 
which he quoted, it would have shown simply and dis- 
tinctly that his contention was unfounded ; that, at the time 



506 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-HI 

when the annexation proceedings were formally initiated 
and accomplished, there were Spanish ships off those 
shores and Spanish soldiers on the island. 

I recall vividly the deep regret expressed at the time by 
Dr. Howe that his friend Senator Sumner had been so 
bitter in his opposition to the administration that he had 
quoted the first part of the Spanish minister's speech and 
suppressed the second part. It was clear that if Mr. Sum- 
ner had read the whole passage to the Senate it would have 
shown that the conduct of the United States had not been 
less magnanimous than that of Spain in the matter, and 
that no argument whatever against the administration 
could be founded upon its action in sending ships and 
troops to the island. 

In drawing up our report after our arrival, an amicable 
difference of opinion showed itself. Senator Wade, being 
a "manifest-destiny" man, wished it expressly to recom- 
mend annexation; Dr. Howe, in his anxiety to raise the 
status of the colored race, took a similar view; but I 
pointed out to them the fact that Congress had asked, not 
for a recommendation, but for facts ; that to give them ad- 
vice under such circumstances was to expose ourselves to a 
snub, and could bring no good to any cause which any of 
us might wish to serve; and I stated that if the general 
report contained recommendations, I must be allowed to 
present one simply containing facts. 

The result was that we united in the document pre- 
sented, which is a simple statement of facts, and which, as 
I believe, remains to this day the best general account of 
the resources of Santo Domingo. 

The result of our report was what I had expected. The 
Spanish part of that island is of great value from an agri- 
cultural and probably from a mining point of view. Its 
valleys being swept by the trade-winds, its mountain slopes 
offer to a white population summer retreats like those 
afforded by similar situations to the British occupants of 
India. In winter it might also serve as a valuable sana- 
torium. I remember well the answer made to me by a man 



AS COMMISSIONER TO SANTO DOMINGO-1871 507 

from Maine, who had brought his family to the neighbor- 
hood of Samana Bay in order to escape the rigors of the 
New England winter. On my asking him about the dis- 
eases prevalent in his neighborhood, he said that his entire 
household had gone through a light acclimating fever, but 
he added: ''We have all got through it without harm; and 
on looking the whole matter over, I am persuaded that, if 
you were to divide the people of any New England State 
into two halves, leaving one half at home and sending the 
other half here, there would in ten years be fewer deaths in 
the half sent here, from all the diseases of this country, 
than in the half left in New England, from consumption 
alone." 

A special element in the question of annexation was the 
value of the harbor of Samana in controlling one of the 
great passages from Europe to the Isthmus. It is large 
enough to hold any fleet, is protected by a mountain-range 
from the northern winds, is easily fortified, and is the 
natural outlet of the largest and most fertile valley in the 
islands. More than this, if the experiment of annexing an 
outlying possession was to be tried, that was, perhaps, the 
best of opportunities, since the resident population to be 
assimilated was exceedingly small. 

But the people of the United States, greatly as they 
honored General Grant, and much as they respected his 
recommendations, could not take his view. They evi- 
dently felt that, with the new duties imposed upon them 
by the vast number of men recently set free and admitted 
to suffrage in the South, they had quite enough to do 
without assuming the responsibility of governing and de- 
veloping this new region peopled by blacks and mulattos ; 
and as a result of this very natural feeling the whole 
proposal was dropped, and will doubtless remain in abey- 
ance until the experiments in dealing with Porto Rico 
and the Philippines shall have shown the people of the 
United States whether there is any place for such depen- 
dencies under our system. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

AS COMMISSIONER TO THE PARIS EXPOSITION OP 1878 

MY next experience was of a quasi-diplomatic sort, in 
connection with the Paris Exposition of 1878, and 
it needs some preface. 

During the Centennial Exposition of 1876 at Philadel- 
phia, I had been appointed upon the educational jury, and, 
as the main part of the work came during the university 
long vacation, had devoted myself to it, and had thus been 
brought into relations with some very interesting men. 

Of these may be named, at the outset, the Einperor Dom 
Pedro of Brazil. I first saw him in a somewhat curious 
way. He had landed at New York in the morning, and 
early in the afternoon he appeared with the Empress and 
their gentlemen and ladies in waiting at Booth's Theater. 
The attraction was Shakspere 's ' ' Henry V, ' ' and no sooner 
was he seated in his box than he had his Shakspere open 
before him. Being in an orchestra stall, I naturally ob- 
served him from time to time, and at one passage light 
was thrown upon his idea of his duties as a monarch. The 
play was given finely, by the best American company of 
recent years, and he was deeply absorbed in it. But pres- 
ently there came the words of King Henry— the noted 
passage : 

" And what have kings, that privates have not too, 
Save ceremony, save general ceremony? 
And what art thon, thou idol ceremony ? " 

Whereupon the Emperor and Empress, evidently moved 
by the same impression, turned their heads from the stage, 

50S 



AS COMMISSIONER AT PARIS -1878 509 

looked significantly at each other, and his majesty very 
earnestly nodded to his wife several times, as if thor- 
oughly assenting. 

The feeling thus betrayed was undoubtedly sincere. His 
real love was for science, literature, and art; but above 
all for science. Some years before, at the founding of 
Cornell University, Agassiz had shown me private letters 
from him revealing his knowledge of natural history, and 
the same thirst for knowledge which he showed then was 
evident now. From dawn till dusk he was hard at work, 
visiting places of interest and asking questions which, 
as various eminent authorities both in the United States 
and France have since assured me, showed that he kept 
himself well abreast of the most recent scientific inves- 
tigations. 

On the following morning he invited me to call upon 
him, and on my doing so, he saluted me with a multitude 
of questions regarding our schools, colleges, and univer- 
sities, which I answered as best I could, though many of 
them really merited more time than could be given during 
a morning interview. His manner was both impressive 
and winning. He had clearly thought much on educational 
problems, and no man engaged in educational work could 
fail to be stimulated by his questions and comments. In 
his manner there was nothing domineering or assuming. 
I saw him at various times afterward, and remember es- 
pecially his kindly and perfectly democratic manner at 
a supper given by the late Mr. Drexel of Philadelphia, 
when he came among us, moving from group to group, 
recognizing here one old friend and there another, and 
discussing with each some matter of value. 

Republican as I am, it is clear to me that his consti- 
tutional sovereignty was a government far more free, lib- 
eral, and, indeed, republican, than the rule of the dema- 
gogue despots who afterward drove him from his throne 
ever has been or ever will be. 

Another very interesting person was a Spanish officer, 
Don Juan Marin, who has since held high commands both 



510 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -IV 

in his own country and in the West Indies. We were upon 
the same jury, and I came to admire him much. One day, 
as we sat in our committee-room discussing various sub- 
jects brought before us, there appeared in the street lead- 
ing to the main entrance of the grounds a large body 
of soldiers with loud drumming and fifing. On his ask- 
ing what troops these were, I answered that they were 
the most noted of our American militia regiments— the 
New York Seventh; and on his expressing a wish to see 
them, we both walked out for that purpose. Presently 
the gates were thrown open, and in marched the regi- 
ment, trim and brisk, bearing aloft the flag of the United 
States and the standard of the State of New York. 

At the moment when the standard and flag were abreast 
of us, Colonel Marin, who was in civil dress, drew himself 
up, removed his hat, and bowed low with simple dignity. 
The great crowd, including myself, were impressed by this 
action. It had never occurred to any one of the rest of us 
to show such a tribute to the flag under which so many 
good and true men had fought and died for us ; and, as one 
of the crowd very justly remarked afterward, ' ' The Span- 
iard cheapened the whole lot of us." With a single ex- 
ception, it was the finest exhibition of manners I have ever 
seen. 1 

Still another delegate was Professor Levasseur, of the 
College of France and the French Institute. His quick- 
ness in ascertaining what was of value in a politico-eco- 
nomical view, and his discussions of geographical matters, 
interested and instructed all who had to do with him. 

With him was Rene Millet, an example of the most 
attractive qualities of a serious Frenchman— qualities 
which have since been recognized in his appointments as 
minister and ambassador to Sweden and to Tunis. Both 
these gentlemen afterward made me visits at Cornell 
which I greatly enjoyed. 

At this time, too, I made a friendship which became 
precious to me— that of Gardner Hubbard, one of the 

1 See the chapter on my attach£ship in Eussia. 



AS COMMISSIONER AT PARIS-1878 511 

best, truest, and most capable men, in whatever he under- 
took, that I have ever seen. The matter which interested 
him then has since interested the world. His son-in-law, 
Mr. Alexander Graham Bell, was exhibiting what ap- 
peared to be a toy,— a toy which on one occasion he 
showed to Dom Pedro and to others of us, and which en- 
abled us to hear in one of the buildings of the exposition a 
violin played in another building. It was regarded as 
an interesting plaything, and nothing more. A controlling 
right in its use might have been bought for a very mod- 
erate sum— yet it was the beginning of the telephone ! 

In connection with these and other interesting men, I 
had devoted myself to the educational exhibits of the ex- 
position; and the result was that, during the following 
year, I was appointed by the Governor of the State of 
New York one of two honorary commissioners to the Paris 
Exposition; the other being Mr. Morton, afterward Min- 
ister to France, Vice-President of the United States, and 
Governor of the State of New York. 

I was not inclined, at first, to take my appointment very 
seriously, but went to Paris simply to visit the exposition, 
hoping that nry honorary function would give me good op- 
portunities. But on arriving I found the commissioner- 
general of the United States, Governor McCormick, hard 
pressed by his duties, and looking about for help. A large 
number of regular commissioners had been appointed, but 
very few of them were of the slightest use. Hardly one 
of them could speak French, and very few of them really 
took any interest in the duties assigned them. The main 
exception, a very noble one, was my old friend President 
Barnard of Columbia College, and he had not yet arrived. 
Under these circumstances, I yielded to the earnest re- 
quest of Governor McCormick and threw myself heartily 
into the work of making our part of the exposition a 
success. 

The American representation at the Vienna Exposition 
a few years before had resulted in a scandal which had 
resounded through Europe, and this scandal had arisen 



512 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE- IV 

from the fact that a subordinate, who had gained the con- 
fidence of our excellent commissioner-general at that post, 
had been charged, and to all appearance justly, with 
receiving money for assigning privileges to bar-keepers 
and caterers. The result was that the commissioner-gen- 
eral was cruelly wounded, and that finally he and his 
associates were ignominiously removed, and the American 
minister to Austria put in his place until a new commis- 
sion could be formed. Of course every newspaper in Eu- 
rope hostile to republican ideas, and they were very many, 
made the most of this catastrophe. One of them in Vienna 
was especially virulent; it called attention to the model 
of an American school-house in the exposition, and said 
that "it should be carefully observed as part of the ma- 
chinery which trains up such mercenary wretches as have 
recently disgraced humanity at the exposition." 

To avoid scandals, to negotiate with the French com- 
missioners on one side, and the crowd of exhibitors on 
the other, and especially to see that in all particulars the 
representatives of American industry were fully recog- 
nized, was a matter of much difficulty; but happily all 
turned out well. 

Among the duties of my position was membership of the 
upper jury— that which, in behalf of the French Repub- 
lic, awarded the highest prizes. Each day, at about nine in 
the morning, we met, and a remarkable body it was. At 
my right sat Meissonier, then the most eminent of French 
painters, and beyond him Quintana, the Spanish poet. Of 
the former of these two I possess a curious memento. He 
was very assiduous in attendance at our sessions, and the 
moment he took his seat he always began drawing, his 
materials being the block of letter-paper and the pencils, 
pens, and ink lying before him. No matter what was 
under discussion, he kept on with his drawing. While 
he listened, and even while he talked, his pencil or pen 
continued moving over the paper. He seemed to bring 
every morning a mass of new impressions caught during 
his walk to the exposition, which he made haste to trans- 



AS COMMISSIONER AT PARIS-1878 513 

fer to paper. Sometimes he used a pencil, sometimes, a 
quill pen, and not infrequently he would plunge the fea- 
ther end of the quill into his inkstand and rapidly put 
into his work broader and blacker strokes. As soon as 
he had finished a drawing he generally tore it into bits 
and threw them upon the floor, but occasionally he would 
fold the sketches carefully and put them into his pocket. 
This being the case, no one dared ask him for one of them. 

But one morning his paper gave out, and for lack of it 
he took up a boxwood paper-knife lying near and began 
work on it. First he decorated the handle in a sort of 
rococo way, and then dashed off on the blade, with his pen, 
a very spirited head— a bourgeois physiognomy some- 
what in Gavarni's manner. But as he could not tear the 
paper-knife into bits, and did not care to take it away, he 
left it upon the table. This was my chance. Immediately 
after the session I asked the director-general to allow me 
to carry it off as a souvenir ; he assented heartily, and so 
I possess a picture which I saw begun, continued, and 
ended by one of the greatest of French painters. 

At my left was Tresca, director of the French National 
Conservatory of Arts and Trades; and next him, the 
sphinx of the committee— the most silent man I ever saw, 
the rector of the Portuguese University of Coimbra. Dur- 
ing the three months of our session no one of us ever 
heard him utter a word. Opposite was Jules Simon, emi- 
nent as an orator, philosopher, scholar, and man of letters ; 
an academician who had held positions in various cab- 
inets, and had even been prime minister of the republic. 
On one side of him was Tullo Massarani, a senator of the 
Italian kingdom, eminent as a writer on the philosophy of 
art ; on the other, Boussingault, one of the foremost chem- 
ists of the century ; and near him, Wischniegradsky, direc- 
tor of the Imperial Technical Institute at Moscow, whom I 
afterward came to know as minister of finance at St. 
Petersburg. Each afternoon we devoted to examining the 
greater exhibits which were to come before us in compe- 
tition for the grands prix on the following morning. 

I.— 33 



514 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -IV 

At one of our sessions a curious difficulty arose. The 
committee on the award of these foremost prizes for ad- 
vanced work in electricity brought in their report, and, to 
my amazement, made no award to my compatriot Edison, 
who was then at the height of his reputation. Presently 
Tresca, who read the report, and who really lamented the 
omission, whispered to me the reason of it. Through the 
negligence of persons representing Edison, no proper ex- 
hibition of his inventions had been made to the committee. 
They had learned that his agent was employed in showing 
the phonograph in a distant hall on the boulevards to 
an audience who paid an admission fee ; but, although they 
had tried two or three times to have his apparatus shown 
them, they had been unsuccessful, until at last, from a 
feeling of what was due their own self-respect, they passed 
the matter over entirely. Of course my duty was to do 
what was possible in rectifying this omission, and in as 
good French as I could muster I made a speech in Edi- 
son's behalf, describing his career, outlining his work, 
and saying that I should really be ashamed to return to 
America without some recognition of him and of his in- 
ventions. This was listened to most courteously, but my 
success was insured by a remark of a less serious char- 
acter, which was that if Edison had not yet made a suffi- 
cient number of inventions to entitle him to a grand prize, 
he would certainly, at the rate he was going on, have done 
so before the close of the exposition. At this there was a 
laugh, and my amendment was unanimously carried. 

Many features in my work interested me, but one had 
a melancholy tinge. One afternoon, having been sum- 
moned to pass upon certain competing works in sculp- 
ture, we finally stood before the great bronze entrance- 
doors of the Cathedral of Strasburg, which, having been 
designed before the Franco-Prussian War, had but just 
been finished. They were very beautiful ; but I could see 
that my French associates felt deeply the changed situa- 
tion of affairs which this exhibit brought to their minds. 

In order to promote the social relations which go for 



AS COMMISSIONER AT PARIS- 1878 515 

so much at such times, I had taken the large apartment 
temporarily relinquished by our American minister, Gov- 
ernor Noyes of Ohio, in the Avenue Josephine ; and there, 
at my own table, brought together from time to time a 
considerable number of noted men from various parts of 
Europe. Perhaps the most amusing occurrence during 
the series of dinners I then gave was the meeting between 
Story, the American sculptor at Rome, and Judge Brady 
of New York. For years each had been taken for the other, 
in various parts of the world, but they had never met. 
In fact, so common was it for people to mistake one for 
the other that both had, as a rule, ceased to explain the 
mistake. I was myself present with Story on one occasion 
when a gentleman came up to him, saluted him as Judge 
Brady, and asked him about their friends in New York: 
Story took no trouble to undeceive his interlocutor, but 
remarked that, so far as he knew, they were all well, and 
ended the interview with commonplaces. 

These two Dromios evidently enjoyed meeting, and no- 
thing could be more amusing than their accounts of vari- 
ous instances in which each had been mistaken for the 
other. Each had a rich vein of humor, and both presented 
the details of these occurrences with especial zest. 

Another American, of foreign birth, was not quite so 
charming. He was a man of value in his profession ; but 
his desire for promotion outran his discretion. Having 
served as juror at the Vienna Exposition, he had now 
been appointed to a similar place in Paris ; and after one 
of my dinners he came up to a group in which there were 
two or three members of the French cabinet, and said: 
"Mr. Vite, I vish you vould joost dell dese zhentlemen vat 
I am doing vor Vrance. I vas on de dasting gommittee 
for vines und peers at Vien, and it 'most killed me ; and 
now I am here doing de same duty, and my stomach has 
nearly gone pack on me. Tell dese zhentlemen dat de 
French Government zurely ought to gonfer ubon me de 
Legion of Honor." This was spoken with the utmost 
seriousness, and was embarrassing, since, of all subjects, 



516 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-IV 

that which a French minister least wishes to discuss pub- 
licly is the conferring of the red ribbon. 

Embarrassing also was the jubilation of some of our 
American exhibitors at our celebration of the Fourth of 
July in the Bois de Boulogne. Doubtless they were 
excellent citizens, but never was there a better exempli- 
fication of Dr. Arnold's saying that "a traveller is a 
self-constituted outlaw." A generous buffet had been 
provided, after the French fashion, with a sufficiency of 
viands and whatever wine was needed. To my amaze- 
ment, these men, who at home were most of them, probably, 
steady-going "temperance men," were so overcome with 
the idea that champagne was to be served ad libitum, that 
the whole thing came near degenerating into an orgy. A 
European of the same rank, accustomed to drinking wine 
moderately with his dinner, would have simply taken a 
glass or two and thought no more of it; but these gentle- 
men seemed to see in it the occasion of their lives. Bot- 
tles were seized and emptied, glass after glass, down the 
throats of my impulsive fellow-citizens : in many cases 
a bottle and more to a man. Then came the worst of it. 
It had been arranged that speeches should be made under 
a neighboring tent by leading members of the French 
cabinet who had accepted invitations to address us. But 
when they proceeded to do this difficulties arose. A num- 
ber of our compatriots, unduly exhilarated, and under- 
standing little that was said, first applauded on general 
principles, but at the wrong places, and finally broke out 
into apostrophes such as "Speak English, old boy!" 
"Talk Yankee fashion!" "Remember the glorious 
Fourth!" "Give it to the British!" "Make the eagle 
scream!" and the like. The result was that we were 
obliged to make most earnest appeals to these gentlemen, 
begging them not to disgrace our country ; and, finally, the 
proceedings were cut short. 

Nor was this the end. As I came down the Champs 
Elysees afterward, I met several groups of these pa- 
triots, who showed by their walk and conversation that 



AS COMMISSIONER AT PARIS-1878 517 

they were decidedly the worse for their celebration of the 
day ; and the whole thing led me to reflect seriously on the 
drink problem, and to ask whether our American solution 
of it is the best. I have been present at many large fes- 
tive assemblages, in various parts of Europe, where wine 
was offered freely as a matter of course; but never have 
I seen anything to approach this performance of my 
countrymen. I have been one of four thousand people at 
the Hotel de Ville in Paris on the occasion of a great 
ball, at other entertainments almost as large in other 
Continental countries, and at dinner parties innumerable 
in every European country; but never, save in one in- 
stance, were the festivities disturbed by any man on ac- 
count of drink. 

The most eminent of American temperance advocates 
during my young manhood, Mr. Delavan, insisted that he 
found Italy, where all people, men, women, and children, 
drink wine with their meals, if they can get it, the most 
temperate country he had ever seen; and, having made 
more than twelve different sojourns in Italy, I can con- 
firm that opinion. 

So, too, again and again, when traveling in the old days 
on the top of a diligence through village after village in 
France, where the people were commemorating the patron 
saint of their district, I have passed through crowds of 
men, women, and children seated by the roadside drinking 
wine, cider, and beer, and, so far as one could see, there 
was no drunkenness ; certainly none of the squalid, brutal, 
swinish sort. It may indeed be said that, in spite of light 
stimulants, drunkenness has of late years increased in 
France, especially among artisans and day laborers. If 
this be so, it comes to strengthen my view. For the main 
reason will doubtless be found in the increased prices of 
light wines, due to vine diseases and the like, which have 
driven the poorer classes to seek far more noxious bev- 
erages. 

So, too, in Germany. Like every resident in that 
country, I have seen great crowds drinking much beer, 



518 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE- IV 

and, though I greatly dislike that sort of guzzling, I never 
saw anything of the beastly, crazy, drunken exhibitions 
which are so common on Independence Day and county- 
fair day in many American towns where total abstinence is 
loudly preached and ostensibly practised. Least of all do 
I admire the beer-swilling propensities of the German stu- 
dents, and still I must confess that I have never seen any- 
thing so wild, wicked, outrageous, and destructive to soul 
and body as the drinking of distilled liquors at bars 
which, in my student days, I saw among American stu- 
dents. But I make haste to say that within the last twenty 
or thirty years American students have improved im- 
mensely in this respect. Athletics and greater interest in 
study, caused by the substitution of the students' own 
aims and tastes for the old cast-iron curriculum, are doubt- 
less the main reasons for this improvement. 1 

Yet, in spite of this redeeming thing, the fact remains 
that one of the greatest curses of American life is the 
dram-drinking of distilled liquors at bars ; and one key of 
the whole misery is the American habit of "treating, "—a 
habit unknown in other countries. For example, in Amer- 
ica, if Tom, Dick, and Harry happen to meet at a hotel, 
or in the street, to discuss politics or business, Tom in- 
vites Dick and Harry to drink with him, which, in ac- 
cordance with the code existing among large classes of 
our fellow-citizens, Dick and Harry feel bound to do. 
After a little more talk Dick invites Harry and Tom to 
drink; they feel obliged to accept; and finally Harry in- 
vites Tom and Dick, with like result; so that these three 
men have poured down their throats several glasses of 
burning stimulants, perhaps in the morning, perhaps just 
before the midday meal, or at some other especially un- 
suitable time, with results more or less injurious to each 
of them, physically and morally. 

The European, more sensible, takes with his dinner, 
as a rule, a glass or two of wine or beer, and is little, if 

1 Further reasons for this improvement I have endeavored to give 
more in detail elsewhere. 



AS COMMISSIONER AT PARIS-1878 519 

at all, the worse for it. If lie ever takes any distilled 
liquor, he sips a very small glass of it after his dinner, 
to aid digestion. 

It is my earnest conviction, based upon wide observa- 
tion in my own country as well as in many others during 
about half a century, that the American theory and prac- 
tice as regards the drink question are generally more 
pernicious than those of any other civilized nation. I 
am not now speaking of total abstinence— of that, more, 
presently. But the best temperance workers among us 
that I know are the men who brew light, pure beer, and 
the vine-growers in California who raise and sell at a very 
low price wines pleasant and salutary, if any wines can 
be so. 

As to those who have no self-restraint, beer and wine, 
like many other things, promote the "survival of the fit- 
test, ' ' and are, like many other things, ' ' fool-killers, ' ' aid- 
ing to free the next generation from men of vicious pro- 
pensities and weak will. 

I repeat it, the curse of American social life, among a 
very considerable class of our people, is "perpendicular 
drinking"— that is, the pouring down of glass after glass 
of distilled spirits, mostly adulterated, at all sorts of in- 
opportune times, and largely under the system of "treat- 

ing. 

The best cure for this, in my judgment, would be for 
States to authorize and local authorities to adopt the 
"Swedish system," which I found doing excellent ser- 
vice at Gothenburg in Sweden a few years since, and 
which I am sorry to see the fanatics there have recently 
wrecked. Under this plan the various towns allowed a 
company to open a certain number of clean, tidy drink- 
ing-places ; obliged them to purchase pure liquors ; forbade 
them, under penalties, to sell to any man who had already 
taken too much ; made it also obligatory to sell something 
to eat at the same time with something to drink ; and, best 
of all, restricted the profits of these establishments to a 
moderate percentage,— seven or eight per cent., if I re- 



520 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-IV 

member rightly,— all the surplus receipts going to public 
purposes, and especially to local charities. The main point 
was that the men appointed to dispense the drinks had no 
motive to sell adulterated drinks, or any more liquor than 
was consistent with the sobriety of the customer. 

I may add that, in my opinion, the worst enemies of real 
temperance in America, as in other countries, have been 
the thoughtless screamers against intemperance, who have 
driven vast numbers of their fellow-citizens to drink in 
secret or at bars. Of course I shall have the honor of 
being railed at and denounced by every fanatic who reads 
these lines, but from my heart I believe them true. 

I remember that some of these people bitterly attacked 
Governor Stanford of California for the endowment of 
Stanford University, in part, from the rent of his vine- 
yards. People who had not a word to say against one 
theological seminary for accepting the Daniel Drew en- 
dowment, or against another for accepting the Jay Gould 
endowment, were horrified that the Stanford University 
should receive revenue from a vineyard. The vineyards 
of California, if their product were legally protected from 
adulteration, could be made one of the most potent influ- 
ences against drunkenness that our country has seen. The 
California wines are practically the only pure wines ac- 
cessible to Americans. They are so plentiful that there is 
no motive to adulterate them, and their use among those 
of us who are so unwise as to drink anything except water 
ought to be effectively advocated as supplanting the 
drinking of beer poisoned with strychnine, whisky poi- 
soned with fusel-oil, and "French claret" poisoned with 
salicylic acid and aniline. 

The true way to supplant the "saloon" and the bar- 
room, as regards working-men who obey their social in- 
stincts by seeking something in the nature of a club, and 
therefore resorting to places where stimulants are sold, 
is to take the course so ably advocated by Bishop Potter : 
namely, to furnish places of refreshment and amusement 
which shall be free from all tendency to beastliness, and 



AS COMMISSIONER AT PARIS-1878 521 

which, with cheerful open fireplaces, games of various 
sorts, good coffee and tea, and, if necessary, light beer 
and wine, shall be more attractive than the " saloons" 
and ' ' dives ' ' which are doing our country such vast harm. 

My advice to all men is to drink nothing but water. 
That is certainly the wisest way for nine men out of ten, 
—and probably for all ten. Indeed, one reason why 
the great body of our people accomplish so much more in 
a given time than those of any other country, and why the 
average American working-man "catches on" and "gits 
thar ' ' more certainly and quickly than a man of the same 
sort in any other country (and careful comparison be- 
tween various other countries and our own has shown that 
this is the case), is that a much larger proportion of our 
people do not stupefy themselves with stimulants. 

In what I have said above I have had in view the prob- 
lem as it really stands: namely, the existence of a very 
large number of people who will have stimulants of 
some kind. In such cases common sense would seem to 
dictate that, in the case of those who persist in using dis- 
tilled liquors, something ought to be done to substitute 
those which are pure for those which are absolutely poi- 
sonous and maddening; and, in the case of those who 
merely seek a mild stimulant, to substitute for distilled 
liquors light fermented beverages; and, in the case of 
those who seek merely recreation after toil, to substitute 
for beverages which contain alcohol, light beverages like 
coffee, tea, and chocolate. 

This is a long digression, but liberavi animam meant, 
and now I return to my main subject. 

The American commissioners were treated with great 
kindness by the French authorities. There were exceed- 
ingly interesting receptions by various ministers, and at 
these one met the men best worth knowing in France: 
the men famous in science, literature, and art, who redeem 
France from the disgrace heaped upon her by the wretched 
creatures who most noisily represent her through sensa- 
tional newspapers. 



522 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -IV 

Of the men who impressed me most was Henri Martin, 
the eminent historian. He discussed with me the history 
of France in a way which aroused many new trains of 
thought. Jules Simon, eminent both as a scholar and a 
statesman, did much for me. On one occasion he took 
me about Paris, showing me places of special interest con- 
nected with the more striking scenes of the Revolutionary 
period ; on another, he went with me to the distribution of 
prizes at the French Academy— a most striking scene; 
and on still another he piloted me through his beautiful 
library, pointing out various volumes in which were em- 
bedded bullets which the communards had fired through 
his windows from the roof of the Madeleine just opposite. 

Another interesting experience was a breakfast with the 
eminent chemist Sainte-Claire Deville, at which I met Pas- 
teur, who afterward took me through his laboratories, 
where he was then making some of his most important 
experiments. In one part of his domain there were cages 
containing dogs, and on my asking about them he said 
that he was beginning a course of experiments bearing 
on the causes and cure of hydrophobia. Nothing could be 
more simple and modest than this announcement of one 
of the most fruitful investigations ever made. 

Visits to various institutions of learning interested me 
much, among these a second visit to the Agricultural Col- 
lege at Grignon and the wonderful Conservatoire des Arts 
et Metiers, which gave me new ideas for the similar de- 
partments at Cornell, and a morning at the ll]cole Normale, 
where I saw altogether the best teaching of a Latin classic 
that I have ever known. As I heard Professor Desjardins 
discussing with his class one of Cicero's letters in the 
light of modern monuments in the Louvre and of recent 
archaeological discoveries, I longed to be a boy again. 

Among the statesmen whom I met at that time in France, 
a strong impression was made upon me by one who had 
played a leading part in the early days of Napoleon III, 
but who was at this time living in retirement, M. Drouyn 
de Lhuys. He had won distinction as minister of for- 



AS COMMISSIONER AT PARIS -1878 523 

eign affairs, but, having retired from politics, had given 
himself up in his old age to various good enterprises, 
among these, to the great Reform School at Mettray. 
This he urged me to visit, and, although it was at a con- 
siderable distance from Paris, I took his advice, and was 
much interested in it. The school seemed to me well de- 
serving thorough study by all especially interested in the 
problem of crime in our own country. 

There is in France a system under which, when any 
young man is evidently going all wrong,— squandering his 
patrimony and bringing his family into disgrace,— a fam- 
ily council can be called, with power to place the wayward 
youth under restraint; and here, in one part of the Met- 
tray establishment, were rooms in which such youths were 
detained in accordance with the requests of family coun- 
cils. It appeared that some had derived benefit from these 
detentions, for there were shown me one or two letters 
from them : one, indeed, written by a young man on the 
bottom of a drawer, and intended for the eye of his suc- 
cessor in the apartment, which was the most contrite yet 
manly appeal I have ever read. 

Another man of great eminence whom I met in those 
days was Thiers. I was taken by an old admirer of 
his to his famous house in the Place St. Georges, and 
there found him, in the midst of his devotees, receiving 
homage. 

He said but little, and that little was commonplace ; but 
I was not especially disappointed : my opinion of him was 
made up long before, and time has but confirmed it. The 
more I have considered his doings as minister or parlia- 
mentarian, and the more I have read his works, whether 
his political pamphlet known as the "History of the 
French Revolution," which did so much to arouse sterile 
civil struggles, or his "History of the Consulate and of the 
Empire," which did so much to revive the Napoleonic 
legend, or his speeches under the constitutional monarchy 
of Louis Philippe, under the Republic, and under the Sec- 
ond Empire, which did so much to promote confusion and 



524 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -IV 

anarchy, the less I admire him. He seems to me eminently 
an architect of ruin. 

It is true that when France was wallowing in the misery 
into which he and men like him had done so much to 
plunge her, he exerted himself wonderfully to accomplish 
her rescue ; but when the history of that country during 
the last century shall be fairly written, his career, brilliant 
as it once appeared, will be admired by no thinking patriot. 

I came to have far more respect for another states- 
man whom I then met— Duruy, the eminent historian of 
France and of Rome, who had labored so earnestly under 
the Second Empire, both as a historian and a minister of 
state, to develop a basis for rational liberty. 

Seated next me at dinner, he made a remark which 
threw much light on one of the most serious faults of the 
French Republic. Said he, "Monsieur, I was minister of 
public instruction under the Empire for seven years ; since 
my leaving that post six years have elapsed, and in that 
time I have had seven successors. ' ' 

On another occasion he discoursed with me about the 
special difficulties of France; and as I mentioned to him 
that I remembered his controversy with Cardinal de 
Bonnechose, in which the latter tried to drive him out of 
office because he did not fetter scientific teaching in the 
University of Paris, he spoke quite freely with me. Al- 
though not at all a radical, and evidently willing to act 
in concert with the church as far as possible, he gave 
me to understand that the demands made by ecclesiastics 
upon every French ministry were absolutely unendurable ; 
that France never could yield to these demands ; and that, 
sooner or later, a great break must come between the 
church and modern society. His prophecy now seems 
nearing fulfilment. 

Among the various meetings which were held in con- 
nection with the exposition was a convention of literary 
men for the purpose of securing better international ar- 
rangements regarding copyright. Having been elected 
a member of this, I had the satisfaction of hearing most 



AS COMMISSIONER AT PARIS-1878 525 

interesting speeches from Victor Hugo, Tourgueneff, and 
Edmond About. The latter made the best speech of all, 
and by his exquisite wit and pleasing humor fully showed 
his right to the name which his enemies had given him— 
"the Voltaire of the nineteenth century." 

The proceedings of this convention closed with a ban- 
quet over which Victor Hugo presided ; and of all the try- 
ing things in my life, perhaps the most so was the speech 
which I then attempted in French, with Victor Hugo look- 
ing at me. 

There were also various educational congresses at the 
Sorbonne, in which the discussions interested me much; 
but sundry receptions at the French Academy were far 
more attractive. Of all the exquisite literary perform- 
ances I have ever known, the speeches made on those oc- 
casions by M. Charles Blanc, M. Gaston Boissier, and the 
members who received them were the most entertaining. 
To see these witty Frenchmen attacking each other in the 
most pointed way, yet still observing all the forms of 
politeness, and even covering their adversaries with com- 
pliments, gives one new conceptions of human ingenuity. 
But whether it is calculated to increase respect for the 
main actors is another question. 

The formal closing of the exposition was a brilliant 
pageant. Various inventors and exhibitors received gifts 
and decorations from the hand of the President of the 
Republic, and, among them, Dr. Barnard, Story, and my- 
self were given officers' crosses of the Legion of Honor 
which none of us has ever thought of wearing; but, 
alas! my Swiss-American friend who had pleaded so 
pathetically his heroic services in "Dasting de vines und 
peers" for France did not receive even the chevalier's 
ribbon, and the expression of his disappointment was loud 
and long. 

Nor was he the only disappointed visitor. It was my 
fortune one day at the American legation to observe one 
difficulty which at the western capitals of Europe has be- 
come very trying, and which may be mentioned to show 



526 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -IV 

what an American representative has sometimes to meet. 
As I was sitting with our minister, Governor Noyes of 
Ohio, there was shown into the room a lady, very stately, 
and dressed in the height of fashion. It was soon evi- 
dent that she was on the war-path. She said, "Mr. 
Minister, I have come to ask you why it is that I do not 
receive any invitations to balls and receptions given by 
the cabinet ministers?" Governor Noyes answered very 

politely, ' ' Mrs. , we have placed your name on the list 

of those whom we would especially like to have invited, 
and have every hope that it will receive attention." She 
answered, "Why is it that you can do so much less than 
your predecessor did at the last exposition? Then I re- 
ceived a large number of invitations ; now I receive none." 
The minister answered, ' ' I am very sorry indeed, madam ; 
but there are perhaps twenty or thirty thousand Americans 
in Paris; the number of them invited on each occasion 
cannot exceed fifty or sixty; and the French authorities 
are just now giving preference to those who have come 
from the United States to take some special part in the 
exposition as commissioners or exhibitors." At this the 
lady was very indignant. She rose and said, ' ' I will give 
you no more trouble, Mr. Minister; but I am going back 
to America, and shall tell Senator Conkling, who gave 
me my letter of introduction to you, that either he has 
very little influence with you, or you have very little in- 
fluence with the French Government. Good morning!" 
And she flounced out of the room. 

This is simply an indication of what is perhaps the 
most vexatious plague which afflicts American represen- 
tatives in the leading European capitals, — a multitude of 
people, more or less worthy, pressing to be presented at 
court or to be invited to official functions. The whole 
matter has a ridiculous look, and has been used by sun- 
dry demagogues as a text upon which to orate against 
the diplomatic service and to arouse popular prejudice 
against it. But I think that a patriotic American may 
well take the ground that while there is so much snob- 



AS COMMISSIONER AT PARIS- 1878 527 

bery shown by a certain sort of Americans abroad, it is 
not an unwise thing to have in each cajoital a man who, 
in the intervals of his more important duties, can keep this 
struggling mass of folly from becoming a scandal and a 
byword throughout Europe. No one can know, until he 
has seen the inner workings of our diplomatic service, 
how much duty of this kind is quietly done by our repre- 
sentatives, and how many things are thus avoided which 
would tend to bring scorn upon our country and upon 
republican institutions. 



CHAPTER XXX 

AS MINISTER TO GERMANY — 1879-1881 

IN the spring of 1879 I was a third time brought into 
the diplomatic service, and in a way which surprised me. 
The President of the United States at that period was Mr. 
Hayes of Ohio. I had met him once at Cornell University, 
and had an interesting conversation with him, but never 
any other communication, directly or indirectly. Great, 
then, was my astonishment when, upon the death of Bay- 
ard Taylor just at the beginning of his career as minister 
to Germany, there came to me an offer of the post thus 
made vacant. 

My first duty after accepting it was to visit Washing- 
ton and receive instructions. Calling upon the Secretary 
of State, Mr. Evarts, and finding his rooms filled with 
people, I said: "Mr. Secretary, you are evidently very 
busy; I can come at any other time you may name." 
Thereupon he answered: "Come in, come in; there are 
just two rules at the State Department : one is that no busi- 
ness is ever done out of office hours ; and the other is, that 
no business is ever done in office hours." It was soon 
evident that this was a phrase to put me at ease, rather 
than an exact statement of fact ; and, after my conference 
with him, several days were given to familiarizing myself 
with the correspondence of my immediate predecessors, 
and with the views of the department on questions then 
pending between the two countries. 

Dining at the White House next day, I heard Mr. Evarts 
withstand the President on a question which has always 

528 



AS MINISTER TO GERMANY-1879-1881 529 

interested me— the admission of cabinet ministers to 
take part in the debates of Congress. Mr. Hayes pre- 
sented the case in favor of their admission cogently; but 
the Secretary of State overmatched his chief. This 
greatly pleased me; for I had been long convinced that, 
next to the power given the Supreme Court, the best 
thing in the Constitution of the United States is that 
complete separation of the executive from the legislative 
power which prevents every Congressional session be- 
coming a perpetual gladiatorial combat or, say, rather, 
a permanent game of foot-ball. Again and again I have 
heard European statesmen lament that their constitution- 
makers had adopted, in this respect, the British rather 
than the American system. What it is in France, with 
cabals organized to oust every new minister as soon as he 
is appointed, and to provide for a "new deal" from the 
first instant of an old one, with an average of one or two 
changes of ministry every year as a result, we all know; 
and, with the exception of the German parliament, Con- 
tinental legislatures generally are just about as bad; in- 
deed, in some respects the Italian parliament is worse. 
The British system would have certainly excluded such 
admirable Secretaries of State as Thomas Jefferson and 
Hamilton Fish; possibly such as John Quincy Adams, 
Seward, and John Hay. In Great Britain, having been 
evolved in conformity with its environment, it is suc- 
cessful; but it is successful nowhere else. I have always 
looked back with great complacency upon such men as 
those above named in the State Department, and such as 
Hamilton, Gallatin, Chase, Stanton, and Gage in other 
departments, sitting quietly in their offices, giving calm 
thought to government business, and allowing the hea- 
then to rage at their own sweet will in both houses of 
Congress. Under the other system, our Republic might 
perhaps have become almost as delectable as Venezuela, 
with its hundred and four revolutions in seventy years. 1 
On the day following I dined with the Secretary of 

1 See Lord Lansdowne's speech, December, 1902. 
1.— 34 



530 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -V 

State, and found him in his usual pleasant mood. Noting 
on his dinner-service the words, "Facta non verba," I 
called his attention to them as a singular motto for an 
eminent lawyer and orator; whereupon he said that, two 
old members of Congress dining with him recently, one of 
them asked the other what those words meant, to which 
the reply was given, "They mean, 'Victuals, not talk.' " 
On the way to my post, I stopped in London and was 
taken to various interesting places. At the house of my 
old friend and Yale classmate, George Washburn Smalley, 
I met a number of very interesting people, and among 
these was especially impressed by Mr. Meredith Town- 
shend, whose knowledge of American affairs seemed amaz- 
ingly extensive and preternaturally accurate. At the 
house of Sir William Harcourt I met Lord Ripon, about 
that time Viceroy of India, whose views on dealings with 
Orientals interested me much. At the Royal Institution 
an old acquaintance was renewed with Tyndall and Hux- 
ley ; and during an evening with the eminent painter, Mr. 
Alma-Tadema, at his house in the suburbs, and especially 
when returning from it, I made a very pleasant acquain- 
tance with the poet Browning. As his carriage did not 
arrive, I offered to take him home in mine ; but hardly had 
we started when we found ourselves in a dense fog, and 
it shortly became evident that our driver had lost his 
way. As he wandered about for perhaps an hour, hoping 
to find some indication of it, Browning's conversation was 
very agreeable. It ran at first on current questions, then 
on travel, and finally on art,— all very simply and natu- 
rally, with not a trace of posing or paradox. Remem- 
bering the obscurity of his verse, I was surprised at the 
lucidity of his talk. But at last, both of us becoming 
somewhat anxious, we called a halt and questioned the 
driver, who confessed that he had no idea where he was. 
As good, or ill, luck would have it, there just then emerged 
from the fog an empty hansom-cab, and finding that its 
driver knew more than ours, I engaged him as pilot, first 
to Browning's house, and then to my own. 



AS MINISTER TO GERMANY— 1879-1881 531 

One old friend to whom I was especially indebted was 
Sir Charles Reed, who had been my fellow-commissioner 
at the Paris and Philadelphia expositions. Thanks to 
him, I was invited to the dinner of the lord mayor at the 
Guildhall. As we lingered in the library before going 
to the table, opportunity was given to study various emi- 
nent guests. First came Cairns, the lord chancellor, in 
all the glory of official robes and wig; then Lord Derby; 
then Lord Salisbury, who, if I remember rightly, was 
minister of foreign affairs; then, after several other dis- 
tinguished personages, most interesting of all, Lord Bea- 
consfield, the prime minister. He was the last to arrive, 
and immediately after his coming he presented his arm to 
the lady mayoress, and the procession took its way to- 
ward the great hall. From my seat, which was but a little 
way from the high table, I had a good opportunity to ob- 
serve these men and to hear their speeches. 

All was magnificent. Nothing of its kind could be more 
splendid than the massive gold and silver plate piled 
upon the lord mayor's table and behind it, nothing more 
sumptuous than the dinner, nothing more quaint than 
the ceremonial. Near the lord mayor, who was arrayed 
in his robes, chain, and all the glories of his office, stood 
the toastmaster, who announced the toasts in a manner 
fit to make an American think himself dreaming,— some- 
thing, in fact, after this sort, in a queer singsong way, 
with comical cadences, brought up at the end with a sharp 
snap: "Me lawds, la-a-a-dies and gentleme-e-e-n, by com- 
mawnd of the Right Honorable the Lawrd Marr, I 
cha-a-awrge you fill your glawse-e-e-s and drink to the 
health of the Right Honorable the Ur-r-rll of Beck'ns- 
field." 

A main feature of the ceremony was the loving-cup. 
Down each long table a large silver tankard containing 
a pleasing beverage, of which the foundation seemed to 
be claret, was passed ; and, as it came, each of us in turn 
arose, and, having received it solemnly from his neighbor, 
who had drunk to his health, drank in return, and then, 



532 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -V 

turning to his next neighbor, drank to him; the latter 
then received the cup, returned the compliment, and in the 
same way passed it on. 

During the whole entertainment I had frequently turned 
my eyes toward the prime minister, and had been much 
impressed by his apparent stolidity. "When he presented 
his arm to the lady mayoress, when he walked with her, and 
during all the time at table, he seemed much like a wooden 
image galvanized into temporary life. When he rose to 
speak, there was the same wooden stiffness and he went 
on in a kind of mechanical way until, suddenly, he darted 
out a brilliant statement regarding the policy of the gov- 
ernment that aroused the whole audience ; then, after more 
of the same wooden manner and mechanical procedure, 
another brilliant sentence; and so on to the end of the 
speech. 

All the speeches were good and to the point. There 
were none of those despairing efforts to pump up fun 
which so frequently make American public dinners dis- 
tressing. The speakers evidently bore in mind the fact 
that on the following day their statements would be pon- 
dered in the household of every well-to-do Englishman, 
would be telegraphed to foreign nations, and would be 
echoed back from friends and foes in all parts of the world. 

After the regular speeches came a toast to the diplo- 
matic corps, and the person selected to respond was our 
representative, the Honorable Edwards Pierpont. This 
he did exceedingly well, and in less than five minutes. 
Sundry American papers had indulged in diatribes 
against fulsome speeches at English banquets by some of 
Mr. Pierpont 's predecessors, and he had evidently de- 
termined that no such charge should be established against 
him. 

Much was added to my pleasure by my neighbors at 
the table— on one side, Sir Frederick Pollock, the emi- 
nent father of the present Sir Frederick; and on the other, 
Mr. Rolf, the ' ' remembrancer ' ' of the City of London. 

This suggests the remark that, in my experience among 



AS MINISTER TO GERMANY -1879 -1881 533 

Englishmen, I have found very little of the coldness and 
stiffness which are sometimes complained of. On the con- 
trary, whenever I have been thrown among them, whether 
in Great Britain or on the Continent, they have generally 
proved to be agreeable conversationists. One thing has 
seemed to me at times curious and even comical : they will 
frequently shut themselves up tightly from their com- 
patriots,— even from those of their own station,— and yet 
be affable, and indeed expansive, to any American they 
chance to meet. The reason for this is, to an American, 
even more curious than the fact. I may discuss it later. 

My arrival in Berlin took place just at the beginning of 
the golden-wedding festivities of the old Emperor Wil- 
liam I. There was a wonderful series of pageants: his- 
toric costume balls, gala operas, and the like, at court; 
but most memorable to me was the kindly welcome ex- 
tended to us by all in authority, from the Emperor and 
Empress down. The cordiality of the diplomatic corps 
was also very pleasing, and during the presentations to 
the ruling family of the empire I noticed one thing espe- 
cially : the great care with which they all, from the mon- 
arch to the youngest prince, had prepared themselves to 
begin a conversation agreeable to the new-comer. One 
of these high personages started a discussion with me upon 
American shipping ; another, on American art ; another, on 
scenery in Colorado ; another, on our railways and steam- 
ers; still another, on American dentists and dentistry; 
and, in case of a lack of other subjects, there was Niagara, 
which they could always fall back upon. 

The duty of a prince of the house of Hohenzollern is 
by no means light; it involves toil. In my time, when 
the present emperor, then the young Prince William, 
brought his bride home, in addition to their other recep- 
tions of public bodies, day after day and hour after hour, 
they received the diplomatic corps, who were arranged 
at the palace in a great circle, the ladies forming one half 
and the gentlemen the other. The young princess, ac- 
companied by her train, beginning with the ladies, and 



534 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-V 

the young prince, with his train, beginning with the gen- 
tlemen, each walked slowly around the interior of the en- 
tire circle, stopping at each foreign representative and 
speaking to him, often in the language of his own country, 
regarding some subject which might be supposed to in- 
terest him. It was really a surprising feat, for which, no 
doubt, they had been carefully prepared, but which would 
be found difficult even by many a well-trained scholar. 

An American representative, in presenting his letter of 
credence from the President of the United States to the 
ruler of the German Empire, has one advantage in the fact 
that he has an admirable topic ready to his hand, such as 
perhaps no other minister has'. This boon was given us 
by Frederick the Great. He, among the first of Continental 
rulers, recognized the American States as an independent 
power; and therefore every American minister since, in- 
cluding myself, has found it convenient, on presenting the 
President's autograph letter to the King or Emperor, to 
recall this event and to build upon it such an oratorical 
edifice as circumstances may warrant. The fact that the 
great Frederick recognized the new American Republic, 
not from love of it, but on account of his detestation of 
England, provoked by her conduct during his desperate 
struggle against his Continental enemies, is, of course, 
on such occasions diplomatically kept in the background. 

The great power in Germany at that time was the 
chancellor, Prince Bismarck. Nothing could be more 
friendly and simple than his greeting ; and however stately 
his official entertainments to the diplomatic corps might 
be, simplicity reigned at his family dinners, when his con- 
versation was apparently frank and certainly delightful. 
To him I shall devote another chapter. 

In those days an American minister at Berlin was 
likely to find his personal relations with the German 
minister of foreign affairs cordial, but his official rela- 
tions continuous war. Hardly a day passed without some 
skirmish regarding the rights of "German-Americans" 
in their Fatherland. The old story constantly recurred 



AS MINISTER TO GERMANY-1879-1881 535 

in new forms. Generally it was sprung by some man who 
had left Germany just at the age for entering the army, 
had remained in America just long enough to secure nat- 
uralization, and then, without a thought of discharging 
any of his American duties, had come back to claim ex- 
emption from his German duties, and to flaunt his Ameri- 
can citizen papers in the face of the authorities of the 
province where he was born. This was very galling 
to these authorities, from the fact that such Americans 
were often inclined to glory over their old schoolmates 
and associates who had not taken this means of escaping 
military duty; and it was no wonder that these brand- 
new citizens, if their papers were not perfectly regular, 
were sometimes held for desertion until the American 
representative could intervene. 

Still other eases were those where fines had been im- 
posed upon men of this class for non-appearance when 
summoned to military duty, and an American minister 
was expected to secure their remission. 

In simple justice to Germany, it ought to be said that 
there is no foreign matter of such importance so little 
understood in the United States as this. The average 
American, looking on the surface of things, cannot see 
why the young emigrant is not allowed to go and come as 
he pleases. The fact is that German policy in this re- 
spect has been evolved in obedience to the instinct of 
national self-preservation. The German Empire, the 
greatest Continental home of civilization, is an open camp, 
perpetually besieged. Speaking in a general way, it has 
no natural frontiers of any sort— neither mountains nor 
wide expanses of sea. Eastward are one hundred and 
thirty millions of people fanatically hostile as regards 
race, religion, and imaginary interests ; westward is an- 
other great nation of forty millions, with a hatred on all 
these points intensified by desire for revenge ; northward 
is a vigorous race estranged by old quarrels; and south 
is a power which is largely hostile on racial, religious, and 
historic grounds, and at best a very uncertain reliance. 



536 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -V 

Under such circumstances, universal military service in 
Germany is a condition of its existence, and evasion of 
this is naturally looked upon as a sort of treason. The 
real wonder is that Germany has been so moderate in her 
dealing with this question. The yearly "budgets of mili- 
tary cases ' ' in the archives of the American Embassy bear 
ample testimony to her desire to be just and even lenient. 

To understand the position of Germany, let us suppose 
that our Civil War had left our Union— as at one time 
seemed likely— embracing merely a small number of Mid- 
dle States and covering a space about as large as Texas, 
with a Confederacy on our southern boundary bitterly 
hostile, another hostile nation extending from the west 
bank of the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains ; a Pacific 
confederation jealous and faultfinding; British domin- 
ions to the northward vexed by commercial and personal 
grievances; and New England a separate and doubtful 
factor in the whole situation. In that case we too would 
have established a military system akin to that of Ger- 
many; but whether we would have administered it as 
reasonably as Germany has done is very doubtful. 

Fortunately for the United States and for me, there was 
in the ministry of foreign affairs, when I arrived, one of 
the most admirable men I have ever known in such a 
position: Baron von Biilow. He came of an illustrious 
family, had great influence with the old Emperor William, 
with Parliament, and in society; was independent, large 
in his views, and sincerely devoted to maintaining the 
best relations between his country and ours. In cases such 
as those just referred to he was very broad-minded; and 
in one of the first which I had to present to him, when 
I perhaps showed some nervousness, he said, "Mr. Min- 
ister, don't allow cases of this kind to vex you; I had 
rather give the United States two hundred doubtful cases 
every year than have the slightest ill-feeling arise between 
us." This being the fact, it was comparatively easy to 
deal with him. Unfortunately, he died early during my 
stay, and some of the ministers who succeeded him had 
neither his independence nor his breadth of view. 



AS MINISTER TO GERMANY- 1879-1881 537 

It sometimes seemed to me, while doing duty at the 
German capital in those days as minister, and at a more 
recent period as ambassador, that I could not enter my 
office without meeting some vexatious case. One day it 
was an American who, having thought that patriotism 
required him, in a crowded railway carriage, roundly to 
denounce Germany, the German people, and the imperial 
government, had passed the night in a guard-house; an- 
other day, it was one who, feeling called upon, in a res- 
taurant, to proclaim very loudly and grossly his unfavor- 
able opinion of the Emperor, had been arrested ; on still 
another occasion it was one of our fellow-citizens who, 
having thought that he ought to be married in Berlin as 
easily as in New York, had found himself entangled in a 
network of regulations, prescriptions, and prohibitions. 

Of this latter sort there were in my time several curi- 
ous cases. One morning a man came rushing into the 
legation in high excitement and exclaimed, "Mr. Min- 
ister, I am in the worst fix that any decent man was ever 
in ; I want you to help me out of it. ' ' And he then went 
on with a bitter tirade against everybody and everything 
in the German Empire. When his wrath had effervesced 
somewhat, he stated his case as follows: "Last year, while 
traveling through Germany, I fell in love with a young 
German lady, and after my return to America became en- 
gaged to her. I have now come for my bride ; the wedding 
is fixed for next Thursday; our steamer passages are 
taken a day or two later; and I find that the authorities 
will not allow me to marry unless I present a multitude 
of papers such as I never dreamed of; some of them it 
will take months to get, and some I can never get. My in- 
tended bride is in distress; her family evidently distrust 
me ; the wedding is postponed indefinitely ; and my busi- 
ness partner is cabling me to come back to America as 
soon as possible. I am asked for a baptismal certificate— 
a Taufschein. Now, so far as I know, I was never bap- 
tized. I am required to present a certificate showing the 
consent of my parents to my marriage— I, a man thirty 
years old and in a large business of my own ! I am asked 



538 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-V 

to give bonds for the payment of my debts in Germany. I 
owe no such debts ; but I know no one who will give 
such a bond. I am notified that the banns must be pub- 
lished a certain number of times before the wedding. 
What kind of a country is this, anyhow % ' ' 

We did the best we could. In an interview with the 
minister of public worship I was able to secure a dispen- 
sation from the publishing of the banns ; then a bond was 
drawn up which I signed and thus settled the question 
regarding possible debts in Germany. As to the baptismal 
certificate, I ordered inscribed, on the largest possible 
sheet of official paper, the gentleman's affidavit that, in 
the State of Ohio, where he was born, no Taufschein, or 
baptismal certificate, was required at the time of his birth, 
and to this was affixed the largest seal of the legation, with 
plenty of wax. The form of the affidavit may be judged 
peculiar; but it was thought best not to startle the au- 
thorities with the admission that the man had not been 
baptized at all. They could easily believe that a State like 
Ohio, which some of them doubtless regarded as still in 
the backwoods and mainly tenanted by the aborigines, 
might have omitted, in days gone by, to require a Tauf- 
schein; but that an unbaptized Christian should offer him- 
self to be married in Germany would perhaps have so 
paralyzed their powers of belief that permission for the 
marriage could never have been secured. 

In this and various other ways we overcame the diffi- 
culties, and, though the wedding did not take place upon 
the appointed day, and the return to America had to be 
deferred, the couple, at last, after marriage first before 
the public authorities, and then in church, were able to de- 
part in peace. 

Another case was typical. One morning a gentleman 
came into the legation in the greatest distress ; and I soon 
learned that this, too, was a marriage case— but very dif- 
ferent from the other. This gentleman, a naturalized 
German-American in excellent standing, had come over 
to claim his bride. He had gone through all the formali- 



AS MINISTER TO GERMANY- 1879-1881 539 

ties perfectly, and, as bis business permitted it, bad de- 
cided to reside a year abroad in order tbat be migbt take 
the furniture of his apartment back to America free of 
duty. Tbis apartment, a large and beautiful suite of 
rooms, be bad already rented, bad furnished it very fully, 
and then, for the few days intervening before his marriage, 
had put it under care of bis married sister. But, alas ! this 
sister's husband was a bankrupt, and hardly bad she taken 
charge of the apartment when the furniture was seized by 
her husband's creditors, seals placed upon its doors by 
the authorities, "and," said the man, in his distress, "un- 
less you do something it will take two years to reach the 
case on the calendar ; meantime I must pay the rent of the 
apartment and lose the entire use of it as well as of the 
furniture." "But," said I, "what can be done?" He 
answered, "My lawyer says that if you will ask it as a 
favor from the judge, be will grant an order bringing the 
case up immediately." To this I naturally replied that 
I could hardly interfere with a judge in any case before 
him; but his answer was pithy. Said he, "You are the 
American minister, and if you are not here to get Ameri- 
cans out of scrapes, I should like to know what you are 
here for." Tbis was unanswerable, and in the afternoon 
I drove in state to the judge, left an official card upon him, 
and then wrote, stating the case carefully, and saying that, 
while I could not think of interfering in any case before 
him, still, that as this matter appeared to me one of especial 
hardship, if it could be reached at once the ends of justice 
would undoubtedly be furthered thereby. That my ap- 
plication was successful was shown by the fact that the 
man thus rescued never returned to thank his benefactor. 
A more important part of a minister's duty is in connec- 
tion with the commercial relations between the two na- 
tions. Each country was attempting, by means of its 
tariffs, to get all the advantage possible, and there resulted 
various German regulations bearing heavily on some 
American products. This started questions which had to 
be met with especial care, requiring many interviews with 



540 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-V 

the foreign office and with various members of the im- 
perial cabinet. 

In looking after commercial relations, a general over- 
sight of the consuls throughout the empire was no small 
jjart of the minister's duty. The consular body was good 
— remarkably good when one considers the radically 
vicious policy which prevails in the selection and reten- 
tion of its members. But the more I saw of it, the stronger 
became my conviction that the first thing needed is that, 
when our government secures a thoroughly good man in 
a consular position, it should keep him there; and, more- 
over, that it should establish a full system of promotions 
for merit. Under the present system the rule is that, as 
soon as a man is fit for the duties, he is rotated out of office 
and supplanted by a man who has all his duties to learn. 
I am glad to say that of late years there have been many 
excellent exceptions to this rule ; and one of my most ear- 
nest hopes, as a man loving my country and desirous of its 
high standing abroad, is that, more and more, the ten- 
dency, both as regards the consular and diplomatic service, 
may be in the direction of sending men carefully fitted for 
positions, and of retaining them without regard to changes 
in the home administration. 

Still another part of the minister's duty was the careful 
collection of facts regarding important subjects, and the 
transmission of them to the State dej^artment. These were 
embodied in despatches. Such subjects as railway man- 
agement, the organization and administration of city gov- 
ernments, the growth of various industries, the creation 
of new schools of instruction, the development of public 
libraries, and the like, as well as a multitude of other 
practical matters, were thus dwelt upon. 

It was also a duty of the minister to keep a general over- 
sight of the interests of Americans within his jurisdic- 
tion. There are always a certain number of Americans 
in distress,— real, pretended, or imaginary, — and these 
must be looked after; then there are American statesmen 
seeking introductions or information, American scholars 



AS MINISTER TO GERMANY- 1879-1881 541 

in quest of similar things in a different field, American 
merchants and manufacturers seeking access to men and 
establishments which will enable them to build up their 
own interests and those of their country, and, most in- 
teresting of all, American students at the university and 
other advanced schools in Berlin and throughout Ger- 
many. To advise with these and note their progress 
formed a most pleasing relief from strictly official matters. 

Least pleasing of all duties was looking after fugitives 
from justice or birds of prey evidently seeking new vic- 
tims. On this latter point, I recall an experience which 
may throw some light on the German mode of watching 
doubtful persons. A young American had appeared in 
various public places wearing a naval uniform to which 
he was not entitled, declaring himself a son of the Presi- 
dent of the United States, and apparently making ready 
for a career of scoundrelism. Consulting the minister of 
foreign affairs one day, I mentioned this case, asking him 
to give me such information as came to him. He an- 
swered, "Remind me at your next visit, and perhaps I 
can show you something. ' ' On my calling some days later, 
the minister handed me a paper on which was inscribed 
apparently not only every place the young man had 
visited, but virtually everything he had done and said dur- 
ing the past week, his conversations in the restaurants be- 
ing noted with especial care ; and while the man was evi- 
dently worthless, he was clearly rather a fool than a 
scoundrel. On my expressing surprise at the fullness of 
this information, the minister seemed quite as much sur- 
prised at my supposing it possible for any good govern- 
ment to exist without such complete surveillance of sus- 
pected persons. 

Another curious matter which then came up was the 
selling of sham diplomas by a pretended American univer- 
sity. This was brought to my notice in sundry letters, and 
finally by calls from one or two young Germans who were 
considering the advisability of buying a doctorate from a 
man named Buchanan, who claimed to be president of the 



542 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -V 

' ' University of Philadelphia. ' ' Although I demonstrated 
to them the worthlessness of such sham degrees of a non- 
existent institution, they evidently thought that to obtain 
one would aid them in their professions, and were inclined 
to make a purchase. From time to time there were slurs 
in the German papers upon all American institutions of 
learning, based upon advertisements of such diplomas; 
and finally my patriotic wrath was brought to a climax 
by a comedy at the Royal Theater, in which the rascal of 
the piece, having gone through a long career of scoun- 
drelism, finally secures a diploma from the "University 
of Pennsylvania" ! 

In view of this, I wrote not only despatches to the Secre- 
tary of State, but private letters to leading citizens of 
Philadelphia, calling their attention to the subject, and es- 
pecially to the injury that this kind of thing was doing 
to the University of Pennsylvania, an institution of which 
every Philadelphian, and indeed every American, has a 
right to be proud. As a result, the whole thing was broken 
up, and, though it has been occasionally revived, it has not 
again inflicted such a stigma upon American education. 

But perhaps the most annoying business of all arose 
from presentations at court. The mania of many of our 
fellow-citizens for mingling with birds of the finest feather 
has passed into a European proverb which is unjust to the 
great body of Americans; but at present there seems to 
be no help for it, the reputation of the many suffering for 
the bad taste of the few. Nothing could exceed the per- 
tinacity shown in some cases. Different rules prevail at 
different courts, and at the imperial court of Germany 
the rule for some years has been that persons eminent 
in those walks of life that are especially honored will 
always be welcome, and that the proper authority, on be- 
ing notified of their presence, will extend such invitations 
as may seem warranted. Unfortunately, while some of 
the most worthy visitors did not make themselves known, 
some persons far less desirable took too much pains to 
attract notice. A satirist would find rich material in the 



AS MINISTER TO GERMANY- 1879-1881 543 

archives of our embassies and legations abroad. I have 
found nowhere more elements of true comedy and even 
broad farce than in some of the correspondence on this 
subject there embalmed. 

But while this class of applicants is mainly made up of 
women, fairness compels me to say that there is a similar 
class of men. These are persons possessed of an insatiate 
and at times almost insane desire to be able, on their re- 
turn, to say that they have talked with a crowned head. 

Should the sovereign see one in ten of the persons from 
foreign nations who thus seek him, he would have no time 
for anything else. He therefore insists, like any private 
person in any country, on his right not to give his time to 
those who have no real claim upon him, and some very 
good fellow-citizens of ours have seemed almost inclined 
to make this feeling of his Majesty a casus belli. 

On the other hand there are large numbers of Americans 
making demands, and often very serious demands, of time 
and labor on their diplomatic representative which it is 
an honor and pleasure to render. Of these are such as, 
having gained a right to do so by excellent work in their 
respective fields at home, come abroad, as legislators 
or educators or scientific investigators or engineers or 
scholars or managers of worthy business enterprises, to 
extend their knowledge for the benefit of their country. 
No work has been more satisfactory to my conscience than 
the aid which I have been able to render to men and wo- 
men of this sort. 

Still, one has to make discriminations. I remember es- 
pecially a very charming young lady of, say, sixteen sum- 
mers, who came to me saying that she had agreed to write 
some letters for a Western newspaper, and that she wished 
to visit all the leading prisons, reformatory institutions, 
and asylums of Germany. I looked into her pretty face, 
and soon showed her that the German Government would 
never think of allowing a young lady like herself to in- 
spect such places as those she had named, and that in my 
opinion they were quite right; but I suggested a series 



544 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -V 

of letters on a multitude of things which would certainly 
prove interesting and instructive, and which she might 
easily study in all parts of Germany. She took my advice, 
wrote many such letters, and the selection which she pub- 
lished proved to be delightful. 

But at times zeal for improvements at home goes peril- 
ously far toward turning the activity of an ambassador 
or minister from its proper channels. Scores of people 
write regarding schools for their children, instructors in 
music, cheap boarding-houses, and I have had an excel- 
lent fellow-citizen ask me to send him a peck of turnips. 
But if the applications are really from worthy persons, 
they can generally be dealt with in ways which require no 
especial labor— many of them through our consuls, to 
whom they more properly belong. 

Those who really ask too much, insisting that the em- 
bassy shall look after their private business, may be re- 
minded that the rules of the diplomatic service forbid 
such investigations, in behalf of individuals, without pre- 
vious instructions from the State Department. 

Of the lesser troublesome people may be named, first, 
those who are looking up their genealogies. A typical 
letter made up from various epistles, as a "composite" 
portrait is made out of different photographs, would run 
much as follows : 

Sir : I have reason to suppose that I am descended from an 
old noble family in Germany. My grandfather's name was Max 
Schulze. He came, I think, from some part of Austria or Bavaria 
or Sclileswig-Holstein. Please trace back my ancestry and let me 
know the result at your earliest convenience. 

Yours truly, 

Mary Smith. 

Another more troublesome class is that of people seek- 
ing inheritances. A typical letter, compounded as above, 
would run somewhat as follows: 

Sir : I am assured that a fortune of several millions of marks 
left by one John Miiller, who died in some part of Germany two 



AS MINISTER TO GERMANY-1879-1881 545 

or three centuries ago, is held at the imperial treasury awaiting 
heirs. My grandmother's name was Miller. Please look the mat- 
ter up and inform me as to my rights. 

Yours truly, 

John Myers. 

P.S. If you succeed in getting the money, I will be glad to pay 
you handsomely for your services. 

Such letters as this are easily answered. During this 
first sojourn of mine at Berlin as minister, I caused a cir- 
cular, going over the whole ground, to be carefully pre- 
pared and to be forwarded to applicants. In this occur 
the following words : ' ' We have yearly, from various parts 
of the United States, a large number of applications for 
information or aid regarding great estates in Germany 
supposed to be awaiting heirs. They are all more or less 
indefinite, many sad, and some ludicrous. . . . There are 
in Germany no large estates, awaiting distribution to un- 
known heirs, in the hands of the government or of any- 
body, and all efforts to discover such estates that the lega- 
tion has ever made or heard of have proved fruitless. ' ' 

Among the many odd applications received at that pe- 
riod, one revealed an American superstition by no means 
unusual. The circumstances which led to it were as fol- 
lows: 

An ample fund, said to be forty or fifty thousand dol- 
lars, had been brought together in Philadelphia for the 
erection of an equestrian statue to Washington, and it had 
been finally decided to intrust the commission to Profes- 
sor Siemering, one of the most eminent of modern Ger- 
man sculptors. One day there came to me a letter from 
an American gentleman whom I had met occasionally 
many years before, asking me to furnish him with a full 
statement regarding Professor Siemering 's works and 
reputation. As a result, I made inquiries among the lead- 
ing authorities on modern art, and, everything being most 
favorable, I at last visited his studio, and found a large 
number of designs and models of works on which he 

I.— 35 



546 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -V 

was then engaged,— two or three being of the highest 
importance, among them the great war monument at 
Leipsic. 

I also found that, although he had executed and was 
executing important works for various other parts of 
Germany, he had not yet put up any great permanent 
work in Berlin, though the designs of the admirable tem- 
porary statues and decorations on the return of the troops 
from the Franco-Prussian War to the metropolis had 
been intrusted largely to him. 

These facts I stated to my correspondent in a letter, and 
in due time received an answer in substance as follows : 

Sir : Your letter confirms me in the opinion I had formed. 
The intrusting of the great statue of Washington to a man like 
Siemering is a job and an outrage. It is clear that he is a mere 
pretender, since he has erected no statue as yet in Berlin. That 
statue of the Father of our Country ought to have been intrusted 
to native talent. I have a son fourteen years old who has already 
greatly distinguished himself. He has modeled a number of fig- 
ures in butter and putty which all my friends think are most re- 
markable. I am satisfied that he could have produced a work 
which, by its originality and power, would have done honor to 
our country and to art. 

Yours very truly, 



Curious, too, was the following: One morning the mail 
brought me a large packet filled with little squares of 
cheap cotton cloth. I was greatly puzzled to know their 
purpose until, a few days later, there came a letter which, 
with changes of proper names, ran as follows: 

Podunk, , 1880. 

Sir : We are going to have a fancy fair for the benefit of the 
Church in this town, and we are getting ready some auto- 



graph bed-quilts. I have sent you a package of small squares of 
cotton cloth, which please take to the Emperor William and his 
wife, also to Prince Bismarck and the other princes and leading 



AS MINISTER TO GERMANY- 1879 -1881 547 

persons of Germany, asking them to write their names on them 
and send them to me as soon as possible. 

Yours truly, 



P.S. Tell them to be sure to write their names in the middle 
of the pieces, for fear that their autographs may get sewed in. 

My associations with the diplomatic corps I found es- 
pecially pleasing. The dean, as regarded seniority, was 
the Italian ambassador, Count Delaunay, a man of large 
experience and kindly manners. He gave me various in- 
teresting reminiscences of his relations with Cavour, and 
said that when he was associated with the great Italian 
statesman, the latter was never able to get time for him, 
except at five o'clock in the morning, and that this was 
their usual hour of work. 

Another very interesting person was the representative 
of Great Britain— Lord Odo Russell. He was full of in- 
teresting reminiscences of his life at Washington, at Rome, 
and at Versailles with Bismarck. As to Rome, he gave me 
interesting stories of Pope Pius IX, who, he said, was in- 
clined to be jocose, and even to speak in a sportive way 
regarding exceedingly serious subjects. 1 As to Cavour, 
he thought him a greater man even than Bismarck; and 
this from a man so intimate with the German chancellor 
was a testimony of no small value. 

As to his recollections of Versailles, he was present at 
the proclamation of the Empire in the Galerie des Glaces, 
and described the scene to me very vividly. 

His relations with Bismarck were very close, and the 
latter once paid him a compliment which sped far ; saying 
that, as a rule, he distrusted an Englishman who spoke 
French very correctly, but that there was one exception- 
Lord Odo Russell. 

At the risk of repeating a twice-told tale, I may refer 
here to his visit to Bismarck when the latter complained 
that he was bothered to death with bores who took his 

1 One of these reminiscences I have given elsewhere. 



548 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -V 

most precious time, and asked Lord Odo how he got rid 
of them. After making some reply, the latter asked Bis- 
marck what plan he had adopted. To this the chancellor 
answered that he and Johanna (the princess) had hit 
upon a plan, which was that when she thought her hus- 
band had been bored long enough, she came in with a bot- 
tle and said, ' ' Now, Otto, you know that it is time for you 
to take your medicine." Hardly were the words out of 
his mouth, when in came the princess with the bottle and 
repeated the very words which her husband had just 
given. Both burst into titanic laughter, and parted on 
the best of terms. 

At court festivities, Lord Odo frequently became very 
weary, and as I was often in the same case, we from time 
to time went out of the main rooms together and sat 
down in some quiet nook for a talk. On one of these 
occasions, just after he had been made a peer with the 
title of Baron Ampthill, I said to him, "You must allow 
me to use my Yankee privilege of asking questions." 
On his assenting to this pleasantly, I asked, "Why is it 
that you are willing to give up the great historic name 
of Russell and take a name which no one ever heard of?" 
He answered, "I have noticed that when men who have 
been long in the diplomatic service return to England, 
they become in many cases listless and melancholy, and 
wander about with no friends and nothing to do. They 
have been so long abroad that they are no longer in touch 
with leading men at home, and are therefore shelved. 
Entrance into the House of Lords gives a man something 
to do, with new friends and pleasing relations. As to the 
name, I would gladly have retained my own, but had no 
choice; in fact, when Lord John Russell was made an 
earl, his insisting on retaining his name was not espe- 
cially liked. Various places on the Russell estates were 
submitted to me for my choice, and I took Ampthill. ' ' 

Alas ! his plans came to nothing. He died at his post 
before his retirement to England. 

Among those then connected with the British Embassy 



AS MINISTER TO GERMANY -1879 -1881 549 

at Berlin, one of the most interesting was Colonel (now 
General) Lord Methuen, who, a few years since, took so 
honorable a part in the South African War. He was at 
that time a tall, awkward man, kindly, genial, who al- 
ways reminded me of Thackeray's "Major Sugarplums." 
He had recently lost his wife, and was evidently in deep 
sorrow. One morning there came a curious bit of news 
regarding him. A few days before, walking in some re- 
mote part of the Thiergarten, he saw a working-man throw 
himself into the river, and instantly jumped into the icy 
stream after him, grappled him, pulled him out, laid him 
on the bank, and rapidly walked off. When news of 
it got out, he was taxed with it by various members of 
the diplomatic corps; but he awkwardly and blushingly 
pooh-poohed the whole matter. 

One evening, not long afterward, I witnessed a very 
pleasant scene connected with this rescue. As we were all 
assembled at some minor festivity in the private palace 
on the Linden, the old Emperor sent for the colonel, and 
on his coming up, his Majesty took from his own coat 
a medal of honor for life-saving and attached it to the 
breast of Methuen, who received it in a very awkward 
yet manly fashion. 

The French ambassador was the Count de St. Vallier, 
one of the most agreeable men I have ever met, who de- 
served all the more credit for his amiable qualities be- 
cause he constantly exercised them despite the most 
wretched health. During his splendid dinners at the 
French Embassy, he simply toyed with a bit of bread, not 
daring to eat anything. 

We were first thrown especially together by a represen- 
tation in favor of the double standard of value, which, 
under instructions from our governments, we jointly 
made to the German Foreign Office, and after that our 
relations became very friendly. Whenever the Fourth 
of July or Washington's Birthday came round, he was 
sure to remember it and make a friendly call. 

My liking for him once brought upon me one of the 



550 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-V 

most embarrassing mishaps of my life. It was at Nice, 
and at the table d'hote of a great hotel on the Promenade 
des Anglais, where I was seated next a French countess 
who, though she had certainly passed her threescore 
years and ten, was still most agreeable. Day after day 
we chatted together, and all went well; but one evening, 
on our meeting at table as usual, she said, "I am told that 
you are the American minister at Berlin." I answered, 
' 'Yes, madam." She then said, "When I was a young 
woman, I was well acquainted with the mother of the 
present French ambassador there." At this I launched 
out into praises of Count St. Vallier, as well I might; 
speaking of the high regard felt for him at Berlin, the 
honors he had received from the German Government, 
and the liking for him among his colleagues. The countess 
listened in silence, and when I had finished turned se- 
verely upon me, saying, "Monsieur, up to this moment 
I have believed you an honest man ; but now I really don 't 
know what to think of you." Of course I was dum- 
founded, but presently the reason for the remark occurred 
to me, and I said, "Madam, M. de St. Vallier serves 
France. Whatever his private opinions may be, he no 
doubt feels it his duty to continue in the service of his 
country. It would certainly be a great pity if, at every 
change of government in France, every officer who did 
not agree with the new regime should leave the diplomatic 
service or the military service or the naval service, thus 
injuring the interests of France perhaps most seriously. 
Suppose the Comte de Chambord should be called to the 
throne of France, what would you think of Orleanists 
and republicans who should immediately resign their 
places in the army, navy, and diplomatic service, thus 
embarrassing, perhaps fatally, the monarchy and the 
country?" At this, to my horror, the lady went into 
hysterics, and began screaming. She cried out, "Oui, 
monsieur, il reviendra, Henri Cinq; il reviendra. Dieu 
est avec lui; il reviendra malgre tout," etc., etc., and 
finally she jumped up and rushed out of the room. The 



AS MINISTER TO GERMANY- 1879 -1881 551 

eyes of the whole table were turned upon us, and I fully 
expected that some gallant Frenchman would come up 
and challenge me for insulting a lady ; but no one moved, 
and presently all went on with their dinners. The next 
day the countess again appeared at my side, amiable as 
ever, but during the remainder of my stay I kept far 
from every possible allusion to politics. 

The Turkish ambassador, Sadoullah Bey, was a kindly 
gentleman who wandered about, as the French expres- 
sively say, "like a damned soul." Something seemed to 
weigh upon him heavily and steadily. A more melan- 
choly human being I have never seen, and it did not sur- 
prise me, a few years later, to be told that, after one of the 
palace revolutions at Constantinople, he had been executed 
for plotting the assassination of the Sultan. 

The Russian ambassador, M. de Sabouroff, was a very 
agreeable man, and his rooms were made attractive by 
the wonderful collection of Tanagra statuettes which he 
had brought from Greece, where he had formerly been 
minister. In one matter he was especially helpful to me. 
One day I received from Washington a cipher despatch in- 
structing me to exert all my influence to secure the re- 
lease of Madame , who, though married to a former 

Russian secretary of legation, was the daughter of an 
American eminent in politics and diplomacy. The case 
was very serious. The Russian who had married this 
estimable lady had been concerned in various shady 
transactions, and, having left his wife and little children 
in Paris, had gone to Munich in the hope of covering 
up some doubtful matters which were coming to light. 
While on this errand he was seized and thrown into jail, 
whereupon he telegraphed his wife to come to him. His 
idea, evidently, was that when she arrived she also would 
be imprisoned, and that her family would then feel forced 
to intervene with the money necessary to get them both 
out. The first part of the programme went as he had ex- 
pected. His wife, on arriving in Munich, was at once 
thrown into prison, and began thence sending to the 



552 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -V 

Secretary of State and to me the most distressing letters 
and telegrams. She had left her little children in Paris, 
and was in agony about them. With the aid of the Rus- 
sian ambassador, who acknowledged that his compatriot 
was one of the worst wretches in existence, I obtained 
the release of the lady from prison after long negotia- 
tions. Unfortunately, I was obliged to secure that of her 
husband at the same time ; but as he died not long after- 
ward, he had no opportunity to do much more harm. 

Of the ministers plenipotentiary, the chief was Baron 
Nothomb of Belgium, noted as the "Belgian father of 
constitutional liberty." He was a most interesting old 
man, especially devoted to the memory of my prede- 
cessor, Bancroft, and therefore very kind to me. Among 
the reminiscences which he seemed to enjoy giving me 
at his dinner-table were many regarding Talleyrand, 
whom he had personally known. 

Still another friend among the ministers was M. de 
Rudhardt, who represented Bavaria. He and his wife 
were charming, and they little dreamed of the catastrophe 
awaiting them when he should cross Bismarck's path. 
The story of this I shall recount elsewhere. 1 

Yet another good friend was Herr von Nostitz-Wall- 
witz, representative of Saxony, who was able, on one 
occasion, to render a real service to American education. 
Two or three young ladies, one of whom is now the ad- 
mired head of one of the foremost American colleges for 
women, were studying at the University of Leipsic. I 
had given them letters to sundry professors there, and 
nothing could be better than the reports which reached 
me regarding their studies, conduct, and social standing. 
But one day came very distressing telegrams and letters, 
and, presently, the ladies themselves. A catastrophe had 
come. A decree had gone forth from the Saxon Govern- 
ment at Dresden expelling all women students from the 
university, and these countrywomen of mine begged me 
to do what I could for them. Remembering that my 

1 See chapter on Bismarck. 



AS MINISTER TO GERMANY-1879-1881 553 

Saxon colleague was the brother of the prime minister of 
Saxony, I at once went to him. On my presenting the 
case, he at first expressed amazement at the idea of wo- 
men being admitted to the lecture-rooms of a German 
university; but as I showed him sundry letters, espe- 
cially those from Professors Georg Curtius and Ebers, 
regarding these fair students, his conservatism melted 
away and he presently entered heartily into my view, the 
result being that the decree was modified so that all lady 
students then in the university were allowed to remain 
until the close of their studies, but no new ones were to 
be admitted afterward. Happily, all this has been changed, 
and to that, as to nearly all other German universities, 
women are now freely admitted. 

Very amusing at times were exhibitions of gentle sar- 
casm on the part of sundry old diplomatists. They had 
lived long, had seen the seamy side of public affairs, and 
had lost their illusions. One evening, at a ball given by 
the vice-chancellor of the empire which was extremely 
splendid and no less tedious, my attention was drawn to 
two of them. There had been some kind of absurd 
demonstration that day in one of the principal European 
parliaments, and coming upon my two colleagues, I 
alluded to it. 

" Yes," said Baron Jauru of Brazil, ''that comes of the 
greatest lie prevalent in our time— the theory that the 
majority of mankind are wise; now it is an absolute fact 
which all history teaches, and to-day even more than ever, 
that all mankind are fools." "What you say is true," 
replied M. de Quade, the Danish minister, "but it is not 
the ivhole truth: constitutional government also goes 
on the theory that all mankind are good; now it is an ab- 
solute fact that all mankind are bad, utterly bad."' "Yes," 
said Jauru, "I accept your amendment; mankind are 
fools and knaves." To this I demurred somewhat, and 
quoted Mr. Lincoln's remark, "You can fool some of the 
people all the time, and all of the people some of the time ; 
but you can 't fool all the people all the time. ' ' 



554 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-V 

This restored their good humor, and I left them smil- 
ingly pondering over this nugget of Western wisdom. 

Interesting to me was the contrast between my two col- 
leagues from the extreme Orient. Then and since at Ber- 
lin I have known the Japanese Minister Aoki. Like all 
other Japanese diplomatic representatives I have met, 
whether there or elsewhere, he was an exceedingly accom- 
plished man: at the first dinner given me after my ar- 
rival in Berlin he made an admirable speech in German, 
and could have spoken just as fluently and accurately in 
French or English. 

On the other hand, Li Fong Pao, the Chinese represen- 
tative, was a mandarin who steadily wore his Chinese cos- 
tume, pigtail and all, and who, though jolly, could speak 
only through an interpreter who was almost as difficult to 
understand as the minister himself. 

Thus far it seems the general rule that whereas the 
Japanese, like civilized nations in general, train men 
carefully for foreign service in international law, mod- 
ern languages, history, and the like, the Chinese, like our- 
selves, do little, if anything, of the kind. But I may add 
that recently there have been some symptoms of change 
on their part. One of the most admirable speeches dur- 
ing the Peace Conference at The Hague was made by a 
young and very attractive Chinese attache. It was in 
idiomatic French ; nothing could be more admirable either 
as regarded matter or manner; and many of the older 
members of the conference came afterward to congratulate 
him upon it. The ability shown by the Chinese Minister 
Wu at Washington would also seem to indicate that China 
has learned something as to the best way of maintaining 
her interests abroad. 

This suggests another incident. In the year 1880 the 
newspapers informed us that the wife of the Chinese min- 
ister at Berlin had just sailed from China to join her 
husband. The matter seemed to arouse general interest, 
and telegrams announced her arrival at Suez, then at 
Marseilles, then at Cologne, and finally at Berlin. On 



AS MINISTER TO GERMANY- 1879-1881 555 

the evening of her arrival at court the diplomatic corps 
were assembled, awaiting her appearance. Presently the 
great doors swung wide, and in came the Chinese minister 
with his wife: he a stalwart mandarin in the full attire 
of his rank ; she a gentle creature in an exceedingly pretty 
Chinese costume, tripping along on her little feet, and 
behind her a long array of secretaries, interpreters, and 
the like, many in Chinese attire, but some in European 
court costume. After all of us had been duly presented 
to the lady by his Chinese excellency, he brought her 
secretaries and presented them to his colleagues. Among 
these young diplomatists was a fine-looking man, evi- 
dently a European, in a superb court costume frogged 
and barred with gold lace. As my Chinese colleague in- 
troduced him to me in German, we continued in that lan- 
guage, when suddenly this secretary said to me in Eng- 
lish, "Mr. White, I don't see why we should be talking 
in German ; I was educated at Rochester University under 
your friend, President Anderson, and I come from Water- 
loo in Western New York." Had he dropped through 
the ceiling, I could hardly have been more surprised. Nei- 
ther Waterloo, though a thriving little town upon the New 
York Central Railroad and not far from the city in which 
I have myself lived, nor even Rochester with all the added 
power of its excellent university, seemed adequate to de- 
velop a being so gorgeous. On questioning him, I found 
that, having been graduated in America, he had gone to 
China with certain missionaries, and had then been taken 
into the Chinese service. It gives me very great pleasure 
to say that at Berlin, St. Petersburg, and The Hague, 
where I have often met him since, he has proved to be 
a thoroughly intelligent and patriotic man. Faithful to 
China while not unmindful of the interests of the United 
States, in one matter he rendered a very great service 
to both countries. 

But a diplomatic representative who has a taste for 
public affairs makes acquaintances outside the diplomatic 
corps, and is likely to find his relations with the ministers 



556 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-V 

of the German crown and with members of the parlia- 
ment very interesting. The character of German public 
men is deservedly high, and a diplomatist fit to represent 
his country should bring all his study and experience 
to bear in eliciting information likely to be useful to his 
country from these as well as from all other sorts and 
conditions of men. My own acquaintance among these 
was large. I find in my diaries accounts of conversations 
with such men as Bismarck, Camphausen, Delbriick, Windt- 
horst, Bennigsen, George von Bunsen, Lasker, Treitschke, 
Gneist,' and others; but to take them up one after the 
other would require far too much space, and I must be 
content to jot down what I received from them wher- 
ever, in the course of these reminiscences, it may seem 
pertinent. 



CHAPTER XXXI 

MEN OF NOTE IN BERLIN AND ELSEWHERE -1879-1881 

MY acquaintance at Berlin extended into regions 
which few of my diplomatic colleagues explored, 
especially among members of the university faculty and 
various other persons eminent in science, literature, and 
art. 

Writing these lines, I look back with admiration and 
affection upon three generations of Berlin professors: 
the first during my student days at the Prussian capi- 
tal in 1855-1856, the second during my service as minister, 
1879-1881, and the third during my term as ambassador, 
1897-1902. 

The second of these generations seems to me the most 
remarkable of the three. It was a wonderful body of men. 
A few of them I had known during my stay in Berlin as a 
student; and of these, first in the order of time, Lep- 
sius, the foremost Egyptologist of that period, whose lec- 
tures had greatly interested me, and whose kindly charac- 
teristics were the delight of all who knew him. 

Ernst Curtius, the eminent Greek scholar and historian, 
was also very friendly. He was then in the midst of his 
studies upon the famous Pergamon statues, which, by 
skilful diplomacy, the German Government had obtained 
from the Turkish authorities in Asia Minor, and brought 
to the Berlin Museum. He was also absorbed in the exca- 
vations at Olympia, and above all in the sculptures found 
there. One night at court he was very melancholy, and on 
my trying to cheer him, he told me, in a heartbroken tone, 

557 



558 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE- VI 

that Bismarck had stopped the appropriations for the 
Olympia researches ; but toward the end of the evening he 
again sought me, his face radiant, and with great glee told 
me that all was now right, that he had seen the Emperor, 
and that the noble old monarch had promised to provide 
for the excavations from his own purse. 

Still another friend was Rudolf von Gneist,the most emi- 
nent authority of his time upon Roman law and the Eng- 
lish constitution. He had acted, in behalf of the Emperor 
William, as umpire between the United States and Great 
Britain, with reference to the northwestern boundary, and 
had decided in our favor. In recognition of his labor, the 
American Government sent over a large collection of valu- 
able books on American history, including various collec- 
tions of published state papers; and the first duty I ever 
discharged as minister was to make a formal presentation 
of this mass of books to him. So began one of my most 
cherished connections. 

Especially prized by me was a somewhat close acquain- 
tance with the two most eminent professors of modern his- 
tory then at the university— Von Sybel and Droysen. 
Each was a man of great ability. One day, after I had 
been reading Lanfrey's "Histoire de Napoleon," which 
I then thought, and still think, one of the most eloquent and 
instructive books of the nineteenth century, Von Sybel 
happened to drop in, and I asked his opinion of it. He 
answered : ' ' It does not deserve to be called a history ; it 
is a rhapsody. ' ' Shortly after he had left, in came Droy- 
sen, and to him I put the same question, when he held up 
both hands and said: "Yes, there is a history indeed! 
That is a work of genius; it is one of the books which 
throw a bright light into a dark time : that book will live. ' ' 

Professor Hermann Grimm was then at the climax of 
his fame, and the gods of his idolatry were Goethe and 
Emerson; but apparently he did not resemble them in 
soaring above the petty comforts and vexations of life. 
Any one inviting him to dine was likely to receive an 
answer asking how the dining-room was lighted— whether 



MEN OF NOTE IN BERLIN-1879-1881 559 

by gas, oil, or wax ; also how the lights were placed— whe- 
ther high or low ; and what the principal dishes were to be : 
and on the answer depended his acceptance or declination. 
Dining with him one night, I was fascinated by his wife ; it 
seemed to me that I had never seen a woman of such 
wonderful and almost weird powers : there was something 
exquisitely beautiful in her manner and conversation ; and, 
on my afterward speaking of this to another guest, he an- 
swered : ' ' Why, of course ; she is the daughter of Goethe 's 
Bettina, to whom he wrote the ' Letters to a Child. ' ' ' 

Another historian was Treitschke, eminent also as a 
member of parliament— a man who exercised great power 
in various directions, and would have been delightful but 
for his deafness. A pistol might have been fired beside 
him, and he would never have known it. Wherever he was, 
he had with him a block of paper leaves and a pencil, by 
means of which he carried on conversation ; in parliament 
he always had at his side a shorthand-writer who took 
down the debates for him. 

Some of the most interesting information which I re- 
ceived regarding historical and current matters in Berlin 
was from the biologist Du Bois-Reymond. He was of 
Huguenot descent, but was perhaps the most anti-Gallic 
man in Germany. Discussing the results of the expulsion 
of the Huguenots under Louis XIV, the details he gave me 
were most instructive. Showing me the vast strength 
which the Huguenots transferred from France to Ger- 
many, he mentioned such men as the eminent lawyer 
Savigny, the great merchant Ravene, and a multitude of 
other men of great distinction, who, like himself, had re- 
tained their French names; and he added very many 
prominent people of Huguenot descent who had changed 
their French names into German. He then referred to a 
similar advantage given to various other countries, and 
made a most powerful indictment against the intolerance 
for which France has been paying such an enormous price 
during more than two hundred years. 

Interesting in another way were two men eminent in 



560 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -VI 

physical science— Helrnholtz and Hoffmann. Meeting 
them one evening at a court festivity, I was told by Hoff- 
mann of an experience of his in Scotland. He had ar- 
rived in Glasgow late on Saturday night, and on Sunday 
morning went to call on Professor Sir William Thompson, 
now Lord Kelvin. The door-bell was answered by a wo- 
man servant, of whom Hoffmann asked if Sir William 
was at home. To this the servant answered, ' ' Sir, he most 
certainly is not. ' ' Hoffmann then asked, * ' Could you tell 
me where I might find him?" She answered, "Sir, you 
will find him at church, where you ought to be. ' ' 

My acquaintance with university men was not confined 
to Berlin ; at Leipsic, Halle, Giessen, Heidelberg, and else- 
where, I also found delightful professorial circles. In my 
favorite field, I was especially struck with the historian 
Oncken. As a lecturer he was perfect; and I have often 
advised American historical students to pass a semester, 
if not more, at Giessen, in order to study his presentation 
of historical subjects. As to manner, he was the best lec- 
turer on history I heard in Germany ; and, with the excep- 
tion of Laboulaye at the College de France, Seelye at 
English Cambridge, and Goldwin Smith at Cornell, the 
best I ever heard anywhere. 

Especially delightful were sundry men of letters. Of 
these I knew best Auerbach, whose delightful "Dorfge- 
schichten" were then in full fame. He had been a warm 
personal friend of Bayard Taylor, and this friendship I 
inherited. Many were the walks and talks we took to- 
gether in the Thiergarten, and he often lighted up my 
apartment with his sunny temper. But one day, as he 
came in, returning from his long vacation, I said to him : 
"So you have been having a great joy at the unveiling of 
the Spinoza statue at The Hague." "A great joy!" he 
said. "Bewahre! far from it; it was wretched— miser- 
able." I asked, "How could that be?" He answered, 
"Renan, Kuno Fischer, and myself were invited to make 
addresses at the unveiling of the statue ; but when we ar- 
rived at the spot, we found that the Dutch Calvinist domi- 



MEN OF NOTE IN BERLIN -1879 -1881 561 

nies and the Jewish rabbis had each been preaching to 
their flocks that the judgments of Heaven would fall upon 
the city if the erection of a statue to such a monstrous 
atheist were permitted, and the authorities had to station 
troops to keep the mob from stoning us and pulling down 
the statue. Think of such a charge against the ' Gottbe- 
trunkener Mensch,' who gave new proofs of God's exist- 
ence, who saw God in everything ! ' ' 

Another literary man whom I enjoyed meeting was 
Julius Rodenberg; his "Reminiscences of Berlin," which 
I have read since, seem to me the best of their kind. 

I also came to know various artists, one of them being 
especially genial. Our first meeting was shortly after my 
arrival, at a large dinner, where, as the various guests were 
brought up to be introduced to the new American minister, 
there was finally presented a little, gentle, modest man as 
"Herr Knaus." I never dreamed of his being the fore- 
most genre-painter in Europe ; and, as one must say some- 
thing, I said, ' ' You are, perhaps, a relative of the famous 
painter. ' ' At this he blushed deeply, seemed greatly em- 
barrassed, and said: "A painter I am; famous, I don't 
know. (Maler bin ich; beriihmt, das iveiss ich nicht.)' 
So began a friendship which has lasted from that day to 
this. I saw the beginning, middle, and end of some of his 
most beautiful pictures, and, above all, of the "Hinter 
den Coulissen, " which conveys a most remarkable philo- 
sophical and psychological lesson, showing how near mirth 
lies to tears. It is the most comic and most pathetic of 
pictures. I had hoped that it would go to America ; but, 
after being exhibited to the delight of all parts of Ger- 
many, it was bought for the royal gallery at Dresden. 

Very friendly also was Carl Becker. His "Coronation 
of Ulrich von Hutten," now at Cologne, of which he al- 
lowed me to have a copy taken, has always seemed to me 
an admirable piece of historical painting. In it there is 
a portrait of a surly cardinal-bishop ; and once, during an 
evening at Becker's house, having noticed a study for this 
bishop's head, I referred to it, when he said: "Yes, that 

I.— 36 



562 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -VI 

bishop is simply the sacristan of an old church in Venice, 
and certainly the most dignified ecclesiastic I have ever 
seen." The musical soirees at Becker's beautiful apart- 
ments were among the delights of my stay both then and 
during my more recent embassy. 

Very delightfully dwell in my memory, also, some even- 
ings at the palace, when, after the main ceremonies were 
over, Knaus, Becker, and Auerbach wandered with me 
through the more distant apartments and galleries, point- 
ing out the beauties and characteristics of various old 
portraits and pictures. In one long gallery lined with the 
portraits of brides who, during the last three centuries, 
had been brought into the family of Hohenzollern, we 
lingered long. 

Then began also my friendship with Anton von Werner. 
He had been present at the proclamation of the Emperor 
William I in the great ' ' Hall of Mirrors ' ' at Versailles, by 
express invitation, in order that he might prepare his fa- 
mous painting of that historic scene. I asked him whether 
the inscription on the shield in the cornice of the Galerie 
des Glaces, ' i Passage du Rhin, ' ' which glorified one of the 
worst outrages committed by Louis XIV upon Germany, 
was really in the place where it is represented in his pic- 
ture. He said that it was. It seemed a divine prophecy 
of retribution. 

The greatest genius in all modern German art — Adolf 
Menzel— I came to know under rather curious circum- 
stances. He was a little man, not more than four feet 
high, with an enormous head, as may be seen by his bust 
in the Berlin Museum. On being presented to him during 
an evening at court, I said to him: "Herr Professor, in 
America I am a teacher of history; and of all works I 
have ever seen on the history of Frederick the Great, your 
illustrations of Kugler's history have taught me most." 
This was strictly true; for there are no more striking 
works of genius in their kind than those engravings which 
throw a flood of light into that wonderful period. At this 
he invited me to visit his studio, which a few days later I 



MEN OF NOTE IN BERLIN-1879-1881 5G3 

did, and then had a remarkable exhibition of some of his 
most curious characteristics. 

Entering the room, I saw, just at the right, a large pic- 
ture, finely painted, representing a group of Frederick's 
generals, and in the midst of them Frederick himself, 
merely outlined in chalk. I said, "There is a picture 
nearly finished." Menzel answered, "No; it is not fin- 
ished and never will be. ' * I asked, ' ' Why not ? " He said, 
' ' I don 't deny that there is some good painting in it. But 
it is on the eve of the battle of Leuthen ; it is the consul- 
tation of Frederick the Great with his generals just be- 
fore that terrible battle; and men don't look like that just 
before a struggle in which the very existence of their 
country is at stake, and in which they know that most of 
them must lay down their lives." 

We then passed on to another. This represented the 
great Gens d 'Amies Church at Berlin; at the side of it, 
piled on scaffoldings, were a number of coffins all decked 
with wreaths and flowers ; and in the foreground a crowd 
of beholders wonderfully painted. All was finished ex- 
cept one little corner ; and I said, ' ' Here is one which you 
will finish." He said, "No ; never. That represents the fu- 
neral of the Revolutionists killed here in the uprising of 
1848. Up to this point"— and he put his finger on the 
unfinished corner— "I believed in it; but when I arrived at 
this point, I said to myself, 'No; nothing good can come 
out of that sort of thing; Germany is not to be made by 
street fights. ' I shall never finish it. ' ' 

We passed on to another. This was finished. It repre- 
sented the well-known scene of the great Frederick blun- 
dering in upon the Austrian bivouac at the castle of Lissa, 
when he narrowly escaped capture. I said to him, ' ' There 
at least is a picture which is finished." "Yes," he said; 
"but the man who ordered it will never get it." I saw 
that there was a story involved, and asked, "How is 
that?" He answered, "That picture was painted on the 
order of the Duke of Ratibor, who owns the castle. When 
it was finished he came to see it, but clearly thought it 



564 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-VI 

too quiet. What he wanted was evidently something in 
the big, melodramatic style. I said nothing; but meeting 
me a few days afterward, he said, 'Why don't you send 
me my picture I ' ' No, ' I said ; ' Serene Highness, that pic- 
ture is mine.' 'No, said he ;' you painted it for me ; it is 
mine. ' ' No, ' said 1 ; ' I shall keep it. ' His Highness shall 
never have it. ' ' 

My principal recreation was in excursions to historical 
places. Old studies of German history had stimulated a 
taste for them, and it was a delight to leave Berlin on 
Saturday and stay in one of these towns over Sunday. 
Frequently my guide was Frederick Kapp, a thoughtful 
historian and one of the most charming of men. 

A longer pilgrimage was made to the mystery-play at 
Oberammergau. There was an immense crowd; and, as 
usual, those in the open, in front of our box, were drenched 
with rain, as indeed were many of the players on the 
stage. I had "come to scoff, but remained to pray." 
There was one scene where I had expected a laugh— 
namely, where Jonah walks up out of the whale's belly. 
But when it arrived we all remained solemn. It was 
really impressive. We sat there from nine in the morn- 
ing until half-past twelve, and then from half-past one 
until about half-past four, under a spell which ban- 
ished fatigue. The main point was that the actors be- 
lieved in what they represented; there was nothing in it 
like that vague, wearisome exhibition of "religiosity" 
which, in spite of its wonderful overture, gave me, some 
years afterward, a painful disenchantment— the "Parsi- 
fal" at Bayreuth. 

At the close of the Passion Play, I sought out some of 
the principal actors, and found them kindly and interest- 
ing. To the Christus I gave a commission for a carved 
picture-frame, and this he afterward executed beautifully. 
With the Judas, who was by far the best actor in the whole 
performance, I became still better acquainted. Visiting 
his workshop, after ordering of him two carved statuettes I 
said to him : ' ' You certainly ought to have a double salary, 



VARIOUS NOTABLES-1879-1881 5G5 

as the Judas had in the miracle-plays of the middle ages ; 
this was thought due him on account of the injury done 
to his character by his taking that part." At this the 
Oberammergau Judas smiled pleasantly, and said: "No; 
I am content to share equally with the others; but the 
same feeling toward the Judas still exists"; and he then 
told me the following story: A few weeks before, while 
he was working at his carving-bench, the door of his work- 
shop opened, and a peasant woman from the mountains 
came in, stood still, and gazed at him intently. On his 
asking her what she wanted, she replied : " I saw you in the 
play yesterday ; I wished to look at you again ; you look 
so like my husband. He is dead. He, too, was a very bad 
man." 

Occasionally, under leave of absence from the State 
Department, I was able to make more distant excursions, 
and first of all into France. The President during one of 
these visits was M. Grevy. Some years before I had heard 
him argue a case in court with much ability; but now, on 
my presentation to him at the palace of the Elysee, he 
dwelt less ably on the relations of the United States with 
France, and soon fell upon the question of trade, saying, in 
rather a reproachful way, " Vous nous inondez de vos pro- 
duits. ' ' To this I could only answer that this inundation of 
American products would surely be of mutual benefit to 
both nations, and he rather slowly assented. 

Much more interesting to me was his minister of for- 
eign affairs, Barthelemy-Saint-Hilaire, a scholar, a states- 
man, and a man of noble character. We talked first of my 
intended journey to the south of France ; and on my telling 
him that I had sent my eldest son to travel there, for the 
reason that at Orange, Aries, Nimes, and the like, a better 
idea of Roman power can be obtained than in Italy itself, 
he launched out on that theme most instructively. 

The conversation having turned toward politics, he 
spoke much of Bismarck and Moltke, pronouncing the 
name of the latter in one syllable. He said that Bismarck 
was very kind personally to Thiers during the terrible 



566 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-VI 

negotiations ; that if Bismarck could have had his way he 
would have asked a larger indemnity,— say, seven mil- 
liards,— and would have left Alsace-Lorraine to France; 
that France would gladly have paid a much larger sum 
than five milliards if she could have retained Alsace-Lor- 
raine; that Bismarck would have made concessions; but 
that "Molkt" would not. He added that Bismarck told 
"Molkt" that he— the latter— had, by insisting on terri- 
tory, made peace too difficult. Saint-Hilaire dwelt long on 
the fearful legacy of standing armies left by the policy 
which Germany finally adopted, and evidently considered 
a great international war as approaching. 1 

Dining afterward at the Foreign Office with my old 
friend Millet, who was second in command there, I met 
various interesting Frenchmen, but was most of all 
pleased with M. Ribot. Having distinguished himself by 
philosophical studies and made a high reputation in the 
French parliament, he was naturally on his way to the 
commanding post in the ministry which he afterward ob- 
tained. His wife, an American, was especially attractive. 

It is a thousand pities that a country possessing such 
men is so widely known to the world, not by these, but by 
novelists and dramatists largely retailing filth, journalists 
largely given to the invention of sensational lies, politi- 
cians largely obeying either atheistic demagogues or cleri- 
cal intriguers; and all together acting like a swarm of 
obscene, tricky, mangy monkeys chattering, squealing, 
and tweaking one another's tails in a cage. Some of these 
monkeys I saw performing their antics in the National 
Assembly then sitting at Versailles; and it saddened me 
to see the nobler element in that assemblage thwarted by 
such featherbrained creatures. 1 

Another man of note, next whom I found myself at a 
dinner-party, was M. de Lesseps. I still believe him to 
have been a great and true man, despite the cloud of 
fraud which the misdeeds of others drew over his latter 
days. Among sundry comments on our country, he said 

1 December, 1880. 



VARIOUS NOTABLES- 1879 -1881 567 

that he had visited Salt Lake City, and thought a policy 
of force against the Mormons a mistake. In this I feel 
sure that he was right. Years ago I was convinced by 
Bishop Tuttle of the Protestant Episcopal Church, who 
had been stationed for some years at Salt Lake City, that 
a waiting policy, in which proper civilization can be 
brought to bear upon the Mormons, is the true course. 

On the following Sunday I heard Pere Hyacinthe 
preach, as at several visits before; but the only thing at 
all memorable was a rather happy application of Vol- 
taire's remark on the Holy Roman Empire, "Ni Saint, ni 
Empire, ni Rornain." 

At the salon of Madame Edmond Adam, eminent as a 
writer of review articles and as a hater of everything 
Teutonic, I was presented to a crowd of literary men who, 
though at that moment striking the stars with their lofty 
heads, have since dropped into oblivion. Among these I 
especially remember Emile de Girardin, editor, spouter, 
intriguer— the il Grand Emile," who boasted that he in- 
vented and presented to the French people a new idea 
every day. This futile activity of his always seemed to me 
best expressed in the American simile: "Busy as a bee in 
a tar-barrel." There was, indeed, one thing to his credit: 
he had somehow inspired his former wife, the gifted Del- 
phine Gay, with a belief in his greatness; and a pretty 
story was current illustrating this. During the revolution 
of 1848, various men of note, calling on Madame Girardin, 
expressed alarm at the progress of that most foolish of 
overturns, when she said, with an air of great solemnity, 
and pointing upward, ' ' Gentlemen, there is one above who 
watches over France. (II y a un ld-hant qui v exile sur la 
France.)'' All were greatly impressed by this evidence 
of sublime faith, until the context showed that it was not 
the Almighty in whom she put her trust, but the great 
Emile, whose study was just above her parlor. 

This reminds me that, during my student days at Paris, 
I attended the funeral of this gifted lady, and in the crowd 
of well-known persons present noticed especially Alexa.n- 



568 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE- VI 

dre Dumas. He was very tall and large, with an African 
head, thick lips, and bushy, crisp hair. He evidently in- 
tended to be seen. His good-natured vanity was as un- 
disguised as when his famous son said of him in his 
presence, "My father is so vain that he is capable of 
standing in livery behind his own carriage to make people 
think he sports a negro footman. ' ' 

Going southward, I stopped at Bourges, and was fas- 
cinated by the amazing stonework of the crypt. How the 
medieval cathedral-builders were able to accomplish such 
intricate work with the means at their command is still 
one of the great mysteries. There is to-day in the United 
States no group of workmen who could execute anything 
approaching this work, to say nothing of such pieces as 
the vaulting of Henry VII 's Chapel at Westminster or of 
King's College Chapel at Cambridge. 

Thence we went to the Church of Brou, near Lyons— 
exquisitely beautiful, and filled with monuments even 
more inspiring than the church itself. But it was entirely 
evident, from a look at the church and its surroundings, 
that Matthew Arnold had written his charming poem with- 
out ever visiting the place. Going thence to Nice, we 
stopped at Turin ; and at the grave of Silvio Pellico there 
came back to me vivid memories of his little book, which 
had seemed to make life better worth living. 

At Genoa a decision had to be made. A mass of letters 
of introduction to leading Italians had been given me, and 
I longed to make their acquaintance ; but I was weary, and 
suddenly decided to turn aside and go upon the Riviera, 
where we settled for our vacation at Nice. There we 
found various interesting people, more especially those 
belonging to the American colony and to the ship-of-war 
Trenton, then lying at Villefranche, near by. Shortly 
after our arrival, Lieutenant Emery of the navy called, 
bearing an invitation to the ship from Admiral Howell, 
who was in command at that station; and, a day or two 
later, on arriving in the harbor, though I saw a long-boat 
dressed out very finely, evidently awaiting somebody, and 



VARIOUS NOTABLES-1879-1881 5G9 

suspected that it was intended for me, I quietly evaded 
the whole business by joining a party of Americans in a 
steam-launch, so that I had been on board some little time 
before the admiral realized the omission in his pro- 
gramme. As a result, in order to quiet his conscientious 
and patriotic feelings, I came again a day or two after- 
ward, was conveyed to the frigate with the regulation 
pomp, and received the salutes due an American minister. 
My stay on the ship was delightful ; but, though the admiral 
most kindly urged me to revisit him, I could never again 
gather courage to cause so much trouble and make so much 
noise. 

Most interesting to me of all the persons in Nice at that 
time was a young American about fourteen years of age, 
who seemed to me one of the brightest and noblest and 
most promising youths I had ever seen. Alas ! how many 
hopes were disappointed in his death not long afterward ! 
The boy was young Leland Stanford. The aspirations of 
his father and mother were bound up in him, and the great 
university at Palo Alto is perhaps the finest monument 
ever dedicated by parents to a child. 

During another of these yearly absences in Italy, I met 
various interesting men, and, among these, at Florence the 
syndic Ubaldino Peruzzi, a descendant of the great Per- 
uzzis of the middle ages, and one of the last surviving as- 
sociates of Cavour. He was an admirable talker ; but of all 
he said I was most pleased with the tribute which he paid 
to the American minister at Rome, Judge Stallo of Cincin- 
nati. He declared that at a recent conference of statesmen 
and diplomatists, Judge Stallo had carried off all the hon- 
ors—speaking with ease, as might be necessary, in Italian, 
French, and English, and finally drawing up a protocol 
in Latin. 

At Florence also I made an acquaintance which has 
ever since been a source of great pleasure to me— that of 
Professor Villari, senator of the kingdom, historian of 
Florence, and biographer of Savonarola. So began a 
friendship which has increased the delights of many Flor- 



570 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -VI 

entine visits since those days— a friendship not only with 
him, but with his gifted and charming wife. 

This reminds me that at Rome the name of the eminent 
professor once brought upon me a curious reproof. 

I had met at various times, in the Eternal City and else- 
where, a rising young professor and officer of Harvard 
University; and, being one morning in Loescher's famous 
book-shop on the Corso, with a large number of purchases 
about me, this gentleman came in and, looking them over, 
was pleased to approve several of them. Presently, on 
showing him a volume just published and saying, "There 
is the new volume of Villari's history," I pronounced the 
name of the author with the accent on the first syllable, as 
any one acquainted with him knows that it ought to be 
pronounced. At this the excellent professor took the book, 
but seemed to have something on his mind; and, having 
glanced through it, he at last said, rather solemnly, "Yes; 
Villari"— accenting strongly the second syllable— "is an 
admirable writer. ' ' I accepted his correction meekly and 
made no reply. A thing so trivial would not be worth re- 
membering were it not one of those evidences, which pro- 
fessors from other institutions in our country have not 
infrequently experienced, of a "certain condescension" 
in sundry men who do honor to one or two of our oldest 
and greatest universities. 

Of all people at Rome I was most impressed by Marco 
Minghetti. A conversation with him I have given in an- 
other chapter. 

Reminiscences of that first official life of mine at Berlin 
center, first of all, in Bismarck, and then in the two great 
rulers who have since passed away— the old hero, Em- 
peror William I, and that embodiment of all qualities 
which any man could ask for in a monarch, the crown 
prince who afterward became the Emperor Frederick III. 
Both were kindly, but the latter was especially winning. 
At different times I had the pleasure of meeting and talk- 
ing with him on various subjects; but perhaps the most 
interesting of these interviews was one which took place 



MEN OF NOTE IN BERLIN -1879 -1881 571 

when it became my duty to conduct him through the 
American exhibit in the International Fisheries Exhibi- 
tion at Berlin. 

He had taken great interest in developing the fisheries 
along the northern coast of Germany, and this exhibition 
was the result. One day he sent the vice-chancellor of the 
empire to ask me whether it was not possible to secure 
an exhibit from the United States, and especially the loan 
of our wonderful collections from the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution and from the Fisheries Institution of Wood's Holl. 
To do this was difficult. Before my arrival an attempt 
had been made and failed. Word had come from persons 
high in authority at Washington that Congress could not 
be induced to make the large appropriation required, and 
that sending over the collections was out of the question. 
I promised to do what I could; and, remembering that 
Fernando Wood of New York was chairman of the Com- 
mittee of Ways and Means in the House, and that Gov- 
ernor Seymour, then living in retirement near Utica, was 
his old political associate, and especially interested in re- 
stocking the waters of New York State with fish, I sent 
the ex-governor a statement of the whole case, and urged 
him to present it fully to Mr. Wood. Then I wrote in the 
same vein to Senator Conkling, and, to my great satis- 
faction, carried the day. The appropriation was made 
by Congress ; and the collections were sent over under the 
control of Mr. Brown Goode of the Smithsonian, perhaps 
the most admirable man who could have been chosen out 
of the whole world for that purpose. The prince was 
greatly delighted with all he saw, showed remarkable in- 
telligence in his questions, and, thanks to Mr. Goode 's as- 
sistance, he received satisfactory answers. The result was 
that the American exhibit took the great prize— the silver- 
gilt vase offered by the Emperor William, which is now 
in the National Museum at Washington. 

The prince showed a real interest in everything of im- 
portance in our country. I remember his asking me re- 
garding the Brooklyn Bridge— how it could possibly be 



572 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-VI 

sustained without guy-ropes. Of course it was easy to 
show hirn that while in the first of our great suspension- 
bridges— that at Niagara— guy-ropes were admissible, at 
Brooklyn they were not: since ships of war as well as mer- 
chant vessels of the largest size must pass beneath it ; and 
I could only add that Roebling, who built it, was a man of 
such skill and forethought that undoubtedly, with the 
weight he was putting into it and the system of trusses 
he was placing upon it, no guy-ropes would be needed. 

On many occasions the prince showed thoughtful kind- 
ness to members of my family as well as to myself, and 
the news of his death gave me real sorrow. It was a vast 
loss to his country; no modern monarch has shown so 
striking a likeness to Marcus Aurelius. 

Hardly less hearty and kindly was the Emperor then 
reigning— William I. Naturally enough, he remembered, 
above all who had preceded me, Mr. Bancroft. His 
first question at court generally was, "How goes it 
with your predecessor? (Wie geht es mit Ihrem Vor- 
gdngerf) " and I always knew that by my "predecessor" 
he meant Bancroft. When I once told him that Mr. Ban- 
croft, who was not far from the old Kaiser's age, had 
bought a new horse and was riding assiduously every 
day, the old monarch laughed heartily and dwelt on his 
recollections of my predecessor, with his long white beard, 
riding through the Thiergarten. 

Pleasant to me was the last interview, on the presenta- 
tion of my letter of recall. It was at Babelsberg, the 
Emperor's country-seat at Potsdam; and he detained me 
long, talking over a multitude of subjects in a way which 
showed much kindly feeling. Among other things, he 
asked where my family had been staying through the 
summer. My answer was that we had been at a hotel near 
the park or palace of Wllhelmshohe above Cassel; and 
that we all agreed that he had been very magnanimous in 
assigning to the Emperor Napoleon III so splendid a 
prison and such beautiful surroundings. To this he an- 
swered quite earnestly, "Yes; and he was very grateful 



MEN OF NOTE IN BERLIN -1879 -1881 573 

for it, and wrote me to say so; but, after all, that is by 
no means the finest palace in Germany." To this I an- 
swered, "Your Majesty is entirely right; that I saw on 
visiting the palace of Wiirzburg." At this he laughed 
heartily, and said, "Yes, I see that you understand it; 
those old prince-bishops knew how to live." As a matter 
of fact, various prince-bishops in the eighteenth century 
impoverished their realms in building just such imitations 
of Versailles as that sumptuous Wiirzburg Palace. 

He then asked me, "On what ship do you go to 
America?" and I answered, "On the finest ship in your 
Majesty's merchant navy— the Elbe." He then asked me 
something about the ship; and when I had told him how 
beautifully it was equipped,— it being the first of the 
larger ships of the North German Lloyd,— he answered, 
"Yes; what is now doing in the way of shipbuilding is 
wonderful. I received a letter from my son, the crown 
prince, this morning, on that very subject. He is at Os- 
borne, and has just visited a great English iron-clad 
man-of-war. It is wonderful ; but it cost a million pounds 
sterling." At this he raised his voice, and, throwing up 
both hands, said very earnestly, "We can't stand it; we 
can't stand it." 

After this and much other pleasant chat, he put out his 
hand and said, "Auf Wiedersehen " ; and so we parted, 
each to take his own way into eternity. 

The other farewells to me were also gratifying. The 
German press was very kindly in its references to my 
departure; and just before I left Berlin a dinner was 
given me in the great hall of the Kaiserhof by leading men 
in parliamentary, professional, literary, and artistic cir- 
cles. Kindly speeches were made by Gneist, Camphausen, 
Delbriick, George von Bunsen, and others— all forming a 
treasure in my memory which, as long as life lasts, I can 
never lose. 



CHAPTER XXXII 

MY KECOLLECTIONS OF BISMARCK — 1879-1881 

MY first glimpse of Bismarck was obtained during one 
of my journeys through middle Germany, about the 
time, I think, of the Franco-Prussian War. Arriving at 
the Kissingen junction, we found a crowd gathered out- 
side the barriers, and all gazing at a railway-carriage 
about to be attached to our train. Looking toward this, I 
recognized the face and form of the great North-German 
statesman. He was in the prime of life— sturdy, hearty, 
and happy in the presence of his wife and children. The 
people at the station evidently knew what was needed ; for 
hardly had he arrived when waiters appeared, bearing 
salvers covered with huge mugs of foaming beer. There- 
upon Bismarck took two of the mugs in immediate succes- 
sion ; poured their contents down his throat, evidently with 
great gusto ; and a burly peasant just back of me, unable 
longer to restrain his admiration, soliloquized in a deep, 
slow, guttural, reverberating rumble: "A-a-a-ber er sieht 
sehr-r-r gut aus." So it struck me also; the waters of 
Kissingen had evidently restored the great man, and he 
looked like a Titan ready for battle. 

My personal intercourse with him began in 1879, when, 
as chancellor of the German Empire, he received me 
as minister of the United States. On my entering his 
workroom, he rose; and it seemed to me that I had 
never seen another man so towering save Abraham 
Lincoln. On either side of him were his two big, black 
dogs, the Reichshunde ; and, as he put out his hand 

574 



MY RECOLLECTIONS OF BISMARCK-1879-1881 575 

with a pleasant smile, they seemed to join kindly in the 
welcome. 

His first remark was that I seemed a young man to 
undertake the duties of a minister, to which I made the 
trite reply that time would speedily cure that defect. The 
conversation then ran, for a time, upon commonplace 
subjects, but finally struck matters of interest to both our 
countries. 

There were then, as ever since, a great number of trou- 
blesome questions between the two nations, and among 
them those relating to Germans who, having gone over to 
the United States just at the military age, had lived there 
merely long enough to acquire citizenship, and had then 
hastened back to Germany to enjoy the privileges of both 
countries without discharging the duties of either. These 
persons had done great harm to the interests of bona-fide 
German-Americans, and Bismarck evidently had an in- 
tense dislike for them. This he showed then and after- 
ward; but his tendencies to severity toward them were 
tempted by the minister of foreign affairs, Von Biilow, 
one of the most reasonable men in public business with 
whom I have ever had to do, and father of the present 
chancellor, who greatly resembles him. 

But Bismarck's feeling against the men who had ac- 
quired American citizenship for the purpose of evading 
their duties in both countries did not prevent his taking 
a great interest in Germans who had settled in the United 
States and, while becoming good Americans, had pre- 
served an interest in the Fatherland. He spoke of these, 
with a large, kindly feeling, as constituting a bond between 
the two nations. Among other things, he remarked that 
Germans living in the United States become more tract- 
able than in the land of their birth; that revolutionists 
thus become moderates, and radicals conservatives; that 
the word Einigkeit (union) had always a charm for them; 
that it had worked both ways upon them for good, the 
union of States in America leading them to prize the 
union of states in Germany, and the evils of disunion in 



576 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-VII 

Germany, which had been so long and painful, leading 
them to abhor disunion in America. 

The conversation then fell into ordinary channels, and I 
took leave after another hearty shake of the hand and 
various kind assurances. A few days later came an invita- 
tion to dinner with him ; and I prized this all the more be- 
cause it was not to be an official, but a family dinner, and 
was to include a few of his most intimate friends in the 
ministry and the parliament. On the invitation it was 
stated that evening dress was not to be worn ; and on my 
arrival, accompanied by Herr von Schlotzer, at that time 
the German minister in Washington, I found all the guests 
arrayed in simple afternoon costume. The table had a 
patriarchal character. At the head sat the prince ; at his 
side, in the next seat but one, his wife ; while between them 
was the seat assigned me, so that I enjoyed to the full the 
conversation of both. The other seats at the head of the 
table were occupied by various guests ; and then, scattered 
along down, were members of the family and some per- 
sonages in the chancery who stood nearest the chief. The 
conversation was led by him, and soon took a turn espe- 
cially interesting. He asked me whether there had ever 
been a serious effort to make New York the permanent 
capital of the nation. I answered that there had not ; that 
both New York and Philadelphia were, for a short period 
at the beginning of our national history, provisional capi- 
tals ; but that there was a deep-seated idea that the perma- 
nent capital should not be a commercial metropolis, and 
that unquestionably the placing of it at Washington was 
decided, not merely by the central position of that city, but 
also by the fact that it was an artificial town, never likely 
to be a great business center ; and I cited Thomas Jeffer- 
son's saying, "Great cities are great sores." He an- 
swered that in this our founders showed wisdom ; that the 
French were making a bad mistake in bringing their na- 
tional legislature back from Versailles to Paris ; that the 
construction of the human body furnishes a good hint for 
arrangements in the body politic ; that, as the human brain 



MY RECOLLECTIONS OF BISMARCK- 1879 -1881 577 

is held in a strong inclosure, and at a distance from the 
parts of the body which are most active physically, so the 
brain of the nation should be protected with the greatest 
care, and should not be placed in the midst of a great, tur- 
bulent metropolis. To this I assented, but said that during 
my attendance at sessions of the French legislative bodies, 
both in my old days at Paris and more recently at Ver- 
sailles, it seemed to me that their main defects are those 
of their qualities ; that one of the most frequent occupa- 
tions of their members is teasing one another, and that 
when they tease one another they are wonderfully witty; 
that in the American Congress and in the British Parlia- 
ment members are more slow to catch a subtle comment or 
scathing witticism; that the members of American and 
British assemblies are more like large grains of cannon- 
powder, through which ignition extends slowly, so that 
there comes no sudden explosion; whereas in the French 
Assembly the members are more like minute, bright 
grains of rifle-powder, which all take fire at the same mo- 
ment, with instant detonation, and explosions sometimes 
disastrous. He assented to this, but insisted that the curse 
of French assemblies had been the tyranny of city mobs, 
and especially of mobs in the galleries of their assemblies ; 
that the worst fault possible in any deliberative body is 
speaking to the galleries ; that a gallery mob is sure to get 
between the members and the country, and virtually 
screen off from the assembly the interests of the country. 
To this I most heartily assented. 

I may say here that there had not then been fully 
developed in our country that monstrous absurdity which 
we have seen in these last few years— national conventions 
of the two parties trying to deliberate in the midst of 
audiences of twelve or fifteen thousand people; a vast 
mob in the galleries, often noisy, and sometimes hysteri- 
cal, frequently seeking to throw the delegates off their 
bearings, to outclamor them, and to force nominations 
upon them. 

A little later, as we discussed certain recent books, I re- 

L-37 



578 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-VII 

f erred to Jules Simon's work on Thiers 's administration. 
Bismarck said that Thiers, in the treaty negotiations at 
Versailles, impressed him strongly ; that he was a patriot ; 
that he seemed at that time like a Roman among Byzan- 
tines. 

This statement astonished me. If ever there existed a 
man at the opposite pole from Bismarck, Thiers was cer- 
tainly that man. I had studied him as a historian, ob- 
served him as a statesman, and conversed with him as a 
social being; and he had always seemed, and still seems, 
to me the most noxious of all the greater architects of 
ruin that France produced during the latter half of the 
nineteenth century— and that is saying much. His policy 
was to discredit every government which he found exist- 
ing, in order that its ruins might serve him as a pedestal ; 
and, while he certainly showed great skill in mitigating 
the calamities which he did so much to cause, his whole 
career was damning. 

By his ' ' History of the French Revolution ' ' he revived 
the worst of the Revolution legend, and especially the dei- 
fication of destructiveness ; by his ' ' History of the Consu- 
late and of the Empire, ' ' and his translation of the body of 
Napoleon to France, he effectively revived the Napoleonic 
legend. The Queen of the French, when escaping from the 
Tuileries in 1848, was entirely right in reproaching him 
with undermining the constitutional monarchy of 1830; 
and no man did more than he to arouse and maintain the 
anti-German spirit which led to the Franco-Prussian War. 

By his writings, speeches, and intrigues he aided in 
upsetting, not only the rule of the Bourbons in 1830, but 
the rule of Louis Philippe in 1848, the Second Republic 
in 1851, and the Second Empire in 1870; and, had he 
lived, he would doubtless have done the same by the pres- 
ent Republic. 

Louis Blanc, a revolutionist of another bad sort— so 
common in France— who can ruin but not restore, once 
said to me that Thiers 's ' ' greatest power lay in his voicing 
average, unthinking, popular folly ; so that after one of his 



MY RECOLLECTIONS OF BISMARCK-1879-1881 579 

speeches every fool in France would cry out with delight, 
1 ' Mais, voila mon opinion ! ' ' 

Doubtless Bismarck was impressed, for the time being, 
by Thiers 's skill in negotiation ; but it is perfectly evident, 
from the recollections of various officials since published, 
that his usual opinion of Thiers was not at all indicated 
by his remark above cited. 

Later the conversation fell upon travel ; and, as he spoke 
of his experiences in various parts of Europe, I recom- 
mended America to him as a new field of observation— al- 
luding playfully to the city named after him, and suggest- 
ing that he take his family with him upon a large steamer, 
and, after seeing the more interesting things in the United 
States, pass on around the world, calling at the Samoan 
Islands, on which I had recently heard him speak in 
parliament. After some humorous objections to this plan, 
he said that early in life he had a great passion for travel, 
but that upon his father's death he was obliged to devote 
himself to getting his estate in order ; that ever since that 
time his political duties had prevented his traveling much ; 
and that now he had lost the love of wandering, and in 
place of it had gained a desire to settle down in the midst 
of his family. 

He spoke English so perfectly that I asked him how 
much time he had spent in England. He said, "Very 
little— in fact, only two or three days." He had made but 
two short visits, one of them many years ago,— I think he 
said in 1842,— the other during the exposition of 1862. He 
seemed much struck with the beauty of England, and said 
that if his lot had been cast there he would have been very 
happy as an English country gentleman ; that he could not 
understand how Englishmen are so prone to live outside 
of their own country. He spoke of various Englishmen, 
and referred to Lord Dufrerin, who had dined with him 
the day before, as one of the most abstemious men he had 
ever seen, drinking only a little claret and water. Upon 
my speaking of the great improvement which I had noted 
in England during the last quarter of a century, so that 



580 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -VII 

the whole country was becoming more and more like a 
garden, he said that such a statement was hardly likely to 
please thinking Englishmen; that they could hardly be 
glad that England should become more and more like a 
garden; "for," he said, " feeding a great nation from a 
garden is like provisioning an army with plum cake. ' ' 

He then dwelt on the fact that Great Britain had become 
more and more dependent for her daily bread on other 
countries, and especially on the United States. 

The conversation next turned to the management of es- 
tates, and he remarked, in a bluff, hearty way, that his 
father had desired him to become a clergyman ; that there 
was a pastor's living, worth, if I remember rightly, about 
fifteen hundred thalers a year, which his father thought 
should be kept in the family. This led to some amusing 
conversation between him and the princess on what his 
life would have been under such circumstances, ending by 
his saying jocosely to her, "You probably think that if I 
had become a pastor I would have been a better man." To 
which she answered that this she would not say; that it 
would not be polite. "But," she continued, "I will say 
this : that you would have been a happier man. ' ' 

He referred to some of my predecessors, speaking very 
kindly of Bayard Taylor and George Bancroft; but both 
he and the princess dwelt especially upon their relations 
with Motley. The prince told me of their life together at 
Gottingen and at Berlin, and of Motley's visits since, 
when he always became Bismarck's guest. The princess 
said that there was one subject on which it was always a 
delight to tease Motley— his suppressed novel "Merry- 
mount"; that Motley defended himself ingeniously in 
various ways until, at his last visit, being pressed hard, he 
declared that the whole thing was a mere myth; that he 
had never written any such novel. 

The dinner being ended, our assembly was adjourned to 
the terrace at the back of the chancellor's palace, looking 
out upon the park in which he was wont to take his famous 
midnight walks. Coffee and cigars were brought, but for 



MY RECOLLECTIONS OF BISMARCK- 1879 -1881 581 

Bismarck a pipe with a long wooden stem and a large 
porcelain bowl. It was a massive affair; and, in a jocose, 
apologetic way, he said that, although others might smoke 
cigars and cigarettes, he clung to the pipe— and in spite 
of the fact that, at the Philadelphia Exposition, as he had 
heard, a great German pipe was hung among tomahawks, 
scalping-knives, and other relics of barbarism. From time 
to time a servant refilled his pipe, while he discoursed upon 
various subjects— first upon the condition of America and 
of Germany; then upon South American matters, and of 
the struggle between Chile and other powers. He showed 
great respect for the Chileans, and thought that they mani- 
fested really sterling qualities. 

He spoke of ship-building, and showed, as it seemed to 
me, rather a close knowledge of the main points involved. 
He referred to the superiority of Russian ships, the wood 
used being more suitable than that generally found else- 
where. As to American ships, he thought they were built, 
as a rule, of inferior woods, and that their reputation had 
suffered in consequence. 

The conversation again falling upon public men, a refer- 
ence of mine to Gladstone did not elicit anything like a 
hearty response; but the mention of Disraeli seemed to 
arouse a cordial feeling. 

Among the guests was Lothar Bucher, whom Bismarck, 
in earlier days, would have hanged if he had caught him, 
but who had now become the chancellor 's most confidential 
agent; and, as we came out together, Bucher said: "Well, 
what do you think of him ? ' ' My answer was : * ' He seems 
even a greater man than I had expected." "Yes," said 
Bucher ; ' ' and I am one of those who have suffered much 
and long to make him possible." I said: "The result is 
worth it, is it not?" "Yes," was the reply; "infinitely 
more than worth it. ' ' 

My next visit was of a very peculiar sort. One day 
there arrived at the legation Mr. William D. Kelly of 
Pennsylvania, anxious, above all things, to have a talk 
with Bismarck, especially upon the tariff and the double 



582 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -VII 

monetary standard, both of which were just then burning 
questions. I told Mr. Kelly that it was much easier to 
jDresent him to the Emperor than to the chancellor, but that 
we would see what could be done. Thereupon I wrote a 
note telling Bismarck who Mr. Kelly was— the senior 
member of the House of Representatives by term of ser- 
vice, the leading champion therein of protection and of the 
double standard of value; that he was very anxious to 
discuss these subjects with leading German authorities; 
and that, knowing the prince's interest in them, it had 
seemed to me that he might not be sorry to meet Mr. 
Kelly for a brief interview. To this I received a hearty 
response: "By all means bring Mr. Kelly over at four 
o'clock." At four o'clock, then, we appeared at the pal- 
ace, and were received immediately and cordially. "When 
we were seated the prince said : * ' I am very sorry ; but the 
new Prussian ministry is to meet here in twenty minutes, 
and I must preside over it." The meaning of this was 
clear, and the conversation began at once, I effacing my- 
self in order to enjoy it more fully. In a few seconds they 
were in the thick of the tariff question ; and, as both were 
high protectionists, they got along admirably. Soon rose 
the question of the double standard in coinage; and 
on this, too, they agreed. Notable was the denunciation 
by the chancellor of those who differed from him; he 
seemed to feel that, as captain of the political forces of 
the empire, he was entitled to the allegiance of all honest 
members of parliament, and on all questions. The discus- 
sion ran through various interesting phases, when, notic- 
ing that the members of the Prussian ministry were gath- 
ering in the next room, I rose to go; whereupon the 
prince, who seemed greatly interested both in the presen- 
tation of his own views and those of Mr. Kelly, said : ' ' No, 
no ; let them wait. ' ' The new ministers therefore waited, 
the argument on the tariff and the double standard being 
more vigorously prosecuted than ever. After fifteen or 
twenty minutes more, I rose again; but Bismarck said: 
"No, no; there 's no hurry; let 's go and take a walk." 



MY RECOLLECTIONS OP BISMARCK- 1879-1881 583 

On this we rose and went into the garden. As we stopped 
for an instant to enable him to take down his military cap, 
I noticed two large photographs with autographs beneath 
them,— one of Lord Beaconsfield, and the other of King 
Victor Emmanuel,— and, as I glanced at the latter, I no- 
ticed an inscription beneath it : 

Al mio caro cugino Bismarck. 

VlTTORIO EMANUELE. 

Bismarck, seeing me look at it, said : "He calls me 'cousin' 
because he has given me his Order of the Annunciata." 
This remark for a moment surprised me. It was hard for 
me to conceive that the greatest man in Europe could care 
whether he was entitled to wear the Annunciata ribbon or 
not, or whether any king called him "cousin" or not. He 
seemed, for a moment, to descend to a somewhat lower 
plane than that upon which he had been standing ; but, as 
we came out into the open and walked up and down the 
avenues in the park, he resumed his discussion of greater 
things. During this, he went at considerable length into 
the causes which led to the partial demonetization of silver 
in the empire; whereupon Mr. Kelly, interrupting him, 
said: "But, prince, if you fully believed in using both the 
precious metals, why did you allow the demonetization of 
silver?" "Well," said Bismarck, "I had a great many 
things to think of in those days, and as everybody said that 

Camphausen and were great financiers, and that 

they understood all about these questions, I allowed them 
to go on ; but I soon learned, as our peasants say of those 
who try to impose upon their neighbors, that they had 
nothing but hot water in their dinner-pots, after all." He 
then went on discussing the mistakes of those and other 
gentlemen before he himself had put his hand to the work 
and reversed their policy. There were curious allusions 
to various individuals whose ideas had not suited him, 
most of them humorous, but some sarcastic. At last, after 
a walk of about twenty minutes, bearing in mind the min- 
isters who had been so long waiting for their chief, I 



584 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -VII 

insisted that we must go ; whereupon the prince conducted 
us to the gate, and most cordially took leave of us. 

As we left the place, I said to Mr. Kelly, knowing that 
he sometimes wrote letters for publication : " Of course, in 
whatever you may write to America, you will be careful 
not to mention names of persons. " ' i Certainly, ' ' he said ; 
' ' that, of course, I shall never think of doing. ' ' But alas 
for his good resolutions! In his zeal for protection and 
the double standard, all were forgotten. About a fortnight 
later there came back by cable a full statement regarding 
his interview, the names all given, and Bismarck's refer- 
ences to his colleagues brought out vividly. The result 
was that a large portion of the German press was indig- 
nant that Bismarck should have spoken in such a man- 
ner to a foreigner regarding Germans of such eminence, 
who had been his trusted colleagues, and who had ren- 
dered to the country very great services ; so that, for some 
days, the "Affaire Kelly" made large demands upon 
public attention. It had hardly subsided when there came 
notice to me from the State Department at Washington 
that a very eminent American financier was about to be 
sent to Berlin ; and I was instructed to secure for him an 
audience with the chancellor, in order that some arrange- 
ments might be arrived at regarding the double standard 
of value. I must confess that, in view of the "Affaire 
Kelly," these instructions chilled me. Fortunately, Bis- 
marck was just then taking his usual cure at Kissingen, 
during which he always refused to consider any matter of 
business; but, on his return to Berlin, I sent him a note 
requesting an audience for this special American repre- 
sentative. This brought a very kind answer expressing 
regret that the chancellor was so pressed with arrears of 
business that he desired to be excused ; but that the minis- 
ter of finance and various other members of the cabinet 
had been instructed to receive the American agent and to 
communicate with him to the fullest extent. That was all 
very well, but there were my instructions; and I felt 
obliged to write again, making a more earnest request. 



MY RECOLLECTIONS OF BISMARCK-1879-1881 585 

Thereupon came an answer that settled the question: the 
chancellor regretted that he was too much overwhelmed 
with work to meet the gentleman ; but said that he would 
gladly see the American minister at any time, and must, 
for the present, be excused from meeting any unaccredited 
persons. 

Of course, after that there was nothing to be said ; and 
the special American agent was obliged to content himself 
with what he could obtain in interviews with various 
ministers. 

Mr. Kelly urged, as his excuse for publishing personal 
details in his letters, that it was essential that the whole 
world should know just what the great chancellor had said 
on so important a subject. As it turned out, Mr. Kelly's \ 
zeal defeated his purpose ; for, had the special agent been 
enabled to discuss the matter with the chancellor, there is 
little doubt that Germany would have at least endeavored 
to establish a permanent double standard of value. 

Each year, during my stay, Bismarck gave a dinner to 
the diplomatic corps on the Emperor's birthday. The 
table was set then, as now, in the great hall of the chan- 
cellor's palace— the hall in which the Conference of Ber- 
lin was held after the Russo-Turkish War. The culmi- 
nating point of each dinner was near its close, when the 
chancellor rose, and, after a brief speech in French, pro- 
posed the health of the heads of all the states there rep- 
resented. This was followed by a toast to the health of 
the Emperor, given by the senior member of the diplo- 
matic corps, and shortly after came an adjournment for 
coffee and cigars. One thing was, at first sight, somewhat 
startling ; for, as Bismarck arose to propose the toast, the 
big black head of a Danish dog appeared upon the table 
on either side of him ; but the bearing of the dogs was so 
solemn that they really detracted nothing from the dig- 
nity of the occasion. 

In the smoking-room the guests were wont to gather in 
squads, as many of them as possible in the immediate 
neighborhood of our host. During one of these assem- 



586 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE- VII 

blages he asked me to explain the great success of Carl 
Schurz in America. My answer was that, before the Lin- 
coln presidential campaign, in which Schurz took so large 
a part, slavery was always discussed either from a constitu- 
tional or a philanthropic point of view, orators seeking to 
show either that it was at variance with the fundamental 
principles of our government or an offense against human- 
ity ; but that Schurz discussed it in a new way, and mainly 
from the philosophic point of view, showing, not merely 
its hostility to American ideas of liberty and the wrong 
it did to the slaves, but, more especially, the injury it 
wrought upon the country at large, and, above all, upon 
the slave States themselves ; and that, in treating all public 
questions, he was philosophic, eloquent, and evidently 
sincere. Bismarck heard what I had to say, and then 
answered: "As a German, I am proud of Carl Schurz." 
This was indeed a confession ; for it is certain that, if Bis- 
marck could have had his way with Carl Schurz in 1848 
or 1849, he would have hanged him. 

The chancellor's discussions at such times were fre- 
quently of a humorous sort. He seemed, most of all, to 
delight in lively reminiscences of various public men in 
Europe. Nothing could be more cordial and hearty than 
his bearing; but that he could take a different tone was 
found out by one of my colleagues shortly after my ar- 
rival. This colleague was Herr von Rudhardt, the diplo- 
matic and parliamentary representative of Bavaria. I 
remember him well as a large, genial man ; and the beauty 
and cordial manner of his wife attracted general admira- 
tion. One day this gentleman made a speech or cast a 
vote which displeased Bismarck, and shortly afterward 
went to one of the chancellor's parliamentary receptions. 
As he, with his wife leaning on his arm, approached his 
host, the latter broke out into a storm of reproaches, de- 
nouncing the minister's conduct, and threatening to com- 
plain of it to his royal master. Thereupon the diplomatist 
simply bowed, made no answer, returned home at once, 
and sent his resignation to his government. All the ef- 



MY RECOLLECTIONS OF BISMARCK-1879-1881 587 

forts of the Emperor William were unable to appease 
him, and he was shortly afterward sent to St. Petersburg 
as minister at that court. But the scene which separated 
him from Berlin seemed to give him a fatal shock; he 
shortly afterward lost his reason, and at last accounts was 
living in an insane asylum. 

On another occasion I had an opportunity to see how 
the chancellor, so kind in his general dealings with men 
whom he liked, could act toward those who crossed his 
path. 

Being one evening at a reception given by the Duke of 
Ratibor, president of the Prussian House of Lords, he 
said to me: "I saw you this afternoon in the diplomatic 
box. Our proceedings must have seemed very stupid. ' ' I 
answered that they had interested me much. On this he 
put his lips to my ear and whispered : * ' Come to-morrow 
at the same hour, and you will hear something of real in- 
terest." Of course, when the time arrived, I was in my 
seat, wondering what the matter of interest could be. 
Soon I began to suspect that the duke had made some mis- 
take, for business seemed following the ordinary routine ; 
but presently a bill was brought in by one of the leading 
Prussian ministers, a member of one of the most eminent 
families in Germany, a man of the most attractive man- 
ners, and greatly in favor with the Emperor William and 
the crown prince, afterward the Emperor Frederick. The 
bill was understood to give a slight extension of suffrage 
in the choice of certain leading elected officials. The ques- 
tion being asked by some one on the floor whether the head 
of the ministry, Prince Bismarck, approved the bill, this 
leading minister, who had introduced it, answered in the 
affirmative, and said that, though Prince Bismarck had 
been kept away by illness from the sessions in which it had 
been discussed, he had again and again shown that he was 
not opposed to it, and there could be no question on the 
subject. At this a member rose and solemnly denied the 
correctness of this statement ; declared that he was in pos- 
session of information to the very opposite effect; and 



588 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-VII 

then read a paper, claiming to emanate directly from the 
chancellor himself, to the effect that he had nothing what- 
ever to do with the bill and disapproved it. Upon Bis- 
marck's colleagues in the ministry, who thought that his 
silence had given consent, this came like a thunderbolt; 
and those who had especially advocated the measure saw 
at once that they had fallen into a trap. The general opin- 
ion was that the illness of the chancellor had been a strata- 
gem; that his sudden disclaimer, after his leading col- 
leagues had thus committed themselves, was intended to 
drive them from the ministry; and that he was deter- 
mined to prevent the minister who had most strongly 
supported the bill from securing popularity by it. This 
minister, then, and the other members of the cabinet at 
once resigned, giving place to men whom the chancellor 
did not consider so likely to run counter to his ideas and 
interests. 

Indeed, it must be confessed that the great statesman 
not infrequently showed the defects of his qualities. As 
one out of many cases may be cited his treatment of Edu- 
ard Lasker. This statesman during several years ren- 
dered really important services. Though an Israelite, he 
showed none of the grasping propensities so often ascribed 
to his race. He seemed to care nothing for wealth or 
show, lived very simply, and devoted himself to the public 
good as he understood it. Many capitalists, bankers, and 
promoters involved in the financial scandals which fol- 
lowed the Franco-Prussian War were of his race ; but this 
made no difference with him : in his great onslaught on the 
colossal scoundrelism of that time, he attacked Jew and 
Gentile alike; and he deserved well of his country for 
aiding to cleanse it of all that fraud and folly. On a mul- 
titude of other questions, too, he had been very serviceable 
to the nation and to Bismarck ; but, toward the end of his 
career, he had, from time to time, opposed some of the 
chancellor's measures, and this seemed to turn the latter 
completely against him. 

At the opening of the Northern Pacific Railway, Lasker 



MY RECOLLECTIONS OF BISMARCK-1879-1881 589 

was one of the invited guests, but soon showed himself 
desperately ill; and, one day, walking along a street in 
New York, suddenly dropped dead. 

A great funeral was given him ; and, of all the ceremo- 
nies I have ever seen, this was one of the most remarkable 
for its simplicity and beauty. Mr. Carl Schurz and myself 
were appointed to make addresses on the occasion in the 
temple of the Israelites on Fifth Avenue ; and we agreed 
in thinking that we had never seen a ceremony of the kind 
more appropriate to a great statesman. 

At the next session of Congress, a resolution was intro- 
duced condoling with the government of Germany on the 
loss of so distinguished a public servant. This resolution 
was passed unanimously, and in perfect good faith, every 
person present— and, indeed, every citizen in the whole 
country who gave the matter any thought— supposing that 
it would be welcomed by the German Government as a 
friendly act. 

But the result was astounding. Bismarck took it upon 
himself, when the resolution reached him, to treat it with 
the utmost contempt, and to send it back without really 
laying it before his government, thus giving the American 
people to understand that they had interfered in a matter 
which did not concern them. For a time, this seemed 
likely to provoke a bitter outbreak of American feeling; 
but, fortunately, the whole matter was allowed to drift by. 

Among the striking characteristics of Bismarck was his 
evident antipathy to ceremonial. He was never present 
at any of the great court functions save the first recep- 
tion given at the golden wedding of the Emperor William 
I, and at the gala opera a few evenings afterward. 

The reason generally assigned for this abstention was 
that the chancellor, owing to his increasing weight and 
weakness, could not remain long on his feet, as people are 
expected to do on such occasions. Nor do I remember 
seeing him at any of the festivities attending the marriage 
of the present Emperor William, who was then merely 
the son of the crown prince. One reason for his absence, 



590 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -VII 

perhaps, was his reluctance to take part in the Fackelta. 
a most curious survival. In this ceremony, the ministers 
of Prussia, in full gala dress, with flaring torches in their 
hands, precede the bride or the groom, as the case may be, 
as he or she solemnly marches around the great white hall 
of the palace, again and again, to the sound of solemn 
music. The bride first goes to the foot of the throne, and 
is welcomed by the Emperor, who gravely leads her once 
around the hall, and then takes his seat. The groom then 
approaches the throne, and invites the Empress to march 
solemnly around the room with him in the same manner, 
and she complies with his request. Then the bride takes 
the royal prince next in importance, who, in this particular 
case, happened to be the Prince of Wales, at present King 
Edward VII ; the groom, the next princess ; and so on, un- 
til each of the special envoys from the various monarchs of 
Europe has gone through this solemn function. So it is 
that the ministers, some of them nearly eighty years of 
age, march around the room perhaps a score of times ; and 
it is very easy to understand that Bismarck preferred to 
avoid such an ordeal. 

From time to time, the town, and even the empire, was- 
aroused by news that he was in a fit of illness or ill 
nature, and insisting on resigning. On such occasions 
the old Emperor generally drove to the chancellor's pal- 
ace in the Wilhelmstrasse, and, in his large, kindly, hearty 
way, got the great man out of bed, put him in good humor, 
and set him going again. On one of these occasions, hap- 
pening to meet Rudolf von Gneist, who had been, during a 
part of Bismarck's career, on very confidential terms with 
him, I asked what the real trouble was. ' ' Oh, ' ' said Gneist, 
"he has eaten too many plover's eggs (Ach, er hat zu viel 
Kibitzeier gegessen)." This had reference to the fact 
that certain admirers of the chancellor in the neighbor- 
hood of the North Sea were accustomed to send him, each 
year, a large basket of plovers ' eggs, of which he was very 
fond; and this diet has never been considered favorable 
to digestion. 



MY RECOLLECTIONS OF BISMARCK-1879-1881 591 

This reminds me that Gneist on one occasion told me 
another story, which throws some light on the chancellor 's 
habits. Gneist had especial claims on Americans. As the 
most important professor of Roman law at the university, 
he had welcomed a long succession of American students ; 
as a member of the imperial parliament, of the Prussian 
legislature, and of the Berlin town council, he had shown 
many kindnesses to American travelers ; and as the repre- 
sentative of the Emperor William in the arbitration be- 
tween the United States and Great Britain on our north- 
western boundary, he had proved a just judge, deciding in 
our favor. Therefore it was that, on the occasion of one of 
the great Thanksgiving dinners celebrated by the Ameri- 
can colony, he was present as one of the principal guests. 
Near him was placed a bottle of Hermitage, rather a heavy, 
heady wine. Shortly after taking his seat, he said to me, 
with a significant smile, ' ' That is some of the wine I sent 
to Bismarck, and it did not turn out well." "How was 
that?" I asked. "Well," he said, "one day I met Bis- 
marck and asked him about his health. He answered, ' It 
is wretched; I can neither eat nor sleep.' I replied, 'Let 
me send you something that will help you. I have just 
received a lot of Hermitage, and will send you a dozen 
bottles. If you take a couple of glasses each day with 
your dinner, it will be the best possible tonic, and will 
do you great good.' Sometime afterward," continued 
Gneist, "I met him again, and asked how the wine agreed 
with him. 'Oh,' said Bismarck, 'not at all; it made me 
worse than ever.' 'Why,' said I, 'how did you take it?' 
'Just as you told me,' replied Bismarck, 'a couple of bot- 
tles each day with my dinner. ' ' ' 

Bismarck's constant struggle against the diseases which 
beset him became pathetic. He once asked me how I man- 
aged to sleep in Berlin; and on my answering him he 
said: "Well, I can never sleep in Berlin at night when it 
is quiet ; but as soon as the noise begins, about four o 'clock 
in the morning, I can sleep a little and get my rest for 
the day." 



592 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -VII 

It was frequently made clear that the Emperor William 
and the German officials were not the only ones to experi- 
ence the results of Bismarck's ill health: the diplomatic 
corps, and among them myself, had sometimes to take it 
into account. 

Bismarck was especially kind to Americans, and, above 
all, to the American diplomatic representatives. To this 
there was but one exception, my immediate successor, and 
that was a case in which no fault need be imputed to 
either side. That Bismarck's feeling toward Americans 
generally was good is abundantly proven, and especially 
by such witnesses as Abeken, Sidney Whitman, and Moritz 
Busch, the last of whom has shown that, while the chan- 
cellor was very bitter against sundry German princes who 
lingered about the army and lived in Versailles at the 
public expense, he seemed always to rejoice in the presence 
of General Sheridan and other compatriots of ours who 
were attached to the German headquarters by a tie of 
much less strength. 

But, as I have already hinted, there was one thing which 
was especially vexatious to him ; and this was the evasion, 
as he considered it, of duty to the German Fatherland 
by sundry German-Americans. One day I received a let- 
ter from a young man who stated his case as follows: 
He had left his native town in Alsace-Lorraine just be- 
fore arriving at the military age ; had gone to the United 
States ; had remained there, not long enough to learn Eng- 
lish, but just long enough to obtain naturalization; and 
had then lost no time in returning to his native town. He 
had been immediately thrown into prison; and thence he 
wrote me, expressing his devotion to the American flag, 
his pride in his American citizenship,— and his desire to 
live in Germany. I immediately wrote to the minister of 
foreign affairs, stating the man's case, and showing that 
it came under the Bancroft treaties, or at least under the 
construction of them which the German Government up to 
that time had freely allowed. To this I received an an- 
swer that the Bancroft treaties,. having been made before 



MY RECOLLECTIONS OF BISMARCK- 1879-1881 593 

Alsace-Lorraine was annexed to the empire, did not apply 
to these new provinces, and that the youth was detained as 
a deserter. To this I replied that, although the minister's 
statement was strictly true, the point had been waived 
long before in our favor ; that in no less than eight cases 
the German Government had extended the benefit of the 
Bancroft treaties over Alsace-Lorraine; and that in one 
of these cases the acting minister of foreign affairs had 
declared the intention of the government to make this 
extension permanent. 

But just at this period, after the death of Baron von 
Biilow, who had been most kindly in all such matters, the 
chancellor had fallen into a curious way of summoning 
eminent German diplomatists from various capitals of 
Europe into the ministry of foreign affairs for a limited 
time— trying them on, as it were. These gentlemen were 
generally very agreeable; but on this occasion I had to 
deal with one who had been summoned from service at 
one of the lesser German courts, and who was younger 
than most of his predecessors. To my surprise, he brushed 
aside all the precedents I had cited, and also the fact that 
a former acting minister of foreign affairs had distinctly 
stated that, as a matter of comity, the German Government 
proposed to consider the Bancroft treaties as applying 
permanently to Alsace-Lorraine. Neither notes nor verbal 
remonstrances moved him. He was perfectly civil, and 
answered my arguments, in every case, as if he were about 
to yield, yet always closed with a " but"— and did nothing. 
He seemed paralyzed. The cause of the difficulty was soon 
evident. It was natural that Bismarck should have a feel- 
ing that a young man who had virtually deserted the Ger- 
man flag just before reaching the military age deserved the 
worst treatment which the law allowed. His own sons had 
served in the army, and had plunged into the thickest of 
the fight, one of them receiving a serious wound ; and that 
this young Alsatian Israelite should thus escape service 
by a trick was evidently hateful to him. That the chancel- 
lor himself gave the final decision in this matter was the 

I.— 38 



594 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-VII 

only explanation of the fact that this particular acting 
minister of foreign affairs never gave rne an immediate 
answer. 

The matter became more and more serious. The letter 
of the law was indeed on Bismarck's side; but the young 
man was an American citizen, and the idea of an American 
citizen being held in prison was anything but pleasant to 
me, and I knew that it would be anything but pleasant 
to my fellow-citizens across the water. I thought on the 
proud words, "civis Romanus sum," and of the analogy 
involved in this case. My position was especially difficult, 
because I dared not communicate the case fully to the 
American State Department of that period. Various pri- 
vate despatches had got out into the world and made 
trouble for their authors, and even so eminent a diplo- 
matist as Mr. George P. Marsh at Rome came very near 
being upset by one. My predecessor, Bayard Taylor, was 
very nearly wrecked by another; and it was the escape 
and publication of a private despatch which plunged my 
immediate successor into his quarrel with Bismarck, and 
made his further stay in Germany useless. I therefore 
stopped short with my first notification to the State De- 
partment—to the effect that a naturalized American had 
been imprisoned for desertion in Alsace-Lorraine, and 
that the legation was doing its best to secure his release. 
To say more than this involved danger that the affair 
might fall into the hands of sensation-mongers, and result 
in howls and threats against the German Government and 
Bismarck ; and I knew well that, if such howls and threats 
were made, Bismarck would never let this young Israelite 
out of prison as long as he lived. 

It seemed hardly the proper thing, serious as the case 
was, to ask for my passports. It was certain that, if this 
were done, there would come a chorus of blame from both 
sides of the Atlantic. Deciding, therefore, to imitate the 
example of the old man in the school-book, who, before 
throwing stones at the boy in his fruit-tree, threw turf 
and grass, I secured from Washington by cable a leave 



MY RECOLLECTIONS OF BISMARCK-1879-1881 595 

of absence, but, before starting, saw some of rny diplo- 
matic colleagues, who were wont to circulate freely and 
talk much, stated the main features of the case to them, 
and said that I was "going off to enjoy myself"; that 
there seemed little use for an American minister in a 
country where precedents and agreements were so easily 
disregarded. Next day I started for the French Riviera. 
The journey was taken leisurely, with interesting halts 
at Cologne and Aix-la-Chapelle ; and, as I reached the 
hotel in Paris, a telegram was handed me— "Your man 
in Alsace-Lorraine is free." It was evident that the 
chancellor had felt better and had thought more leniently 
of the matter, and I had never another difficulty of the sort 
during the remainder of my stay. 

The whole weight of testimony as regards Bismarck's 
occasional severity is to the effect that, stern and per- 
sistent as he was, he had much tenderness of heart; but 
as to the impossibility of any nation, government, or press 
scaring or driving him, I noticed curious evidences during 
my stay. It was well known that he was not unfriendly 
to Russia; indeed, he more than once made declarations 
which led some of the Western powers to think him too 
ready to make concessions to Russian policy in the East; 
but his relations to Prince Gortchakoff, the former Rus- 
sian chancellor, were not of the best; and after the Berlin 
Conference the disappointment of Russia led to various 
unfriendly actions by Russian authorities and individuals 
of all sorts, from the Czar down. There was a general 
feeling that it was dangerous for Germany to resent 
this, and a statesman of another mold would have depre- 
cated these attacks, or sought to mitigate them. Not so 
Bismarck: he determined to give as good as was sent; 
and, for a very considerable time he lost no chance to show 
that the day of truckling by Germany to her powerful 
neighbor was past. This became at last so marked that 
bitter, and even defiant, presentation of unpalatable 
truths regarding Russia, in the press inspired from the 
chancery, seemed the usual form in which all Russian 



596 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -VII 

statesmen, and especially members of the imperial house, 
were welcomed in Berlin. One morning, taking up my 
copy of the paper most directly inspired by the chancel- 
lor, I found an article on the shortcomings of Russia, 
especially pungent— almost vitriolic. It at once occurred 
to me to look among the distinguished arrivals to see 
what Muscovite was in town ; and my search was rewarded 
by the discovery that the heir to the imperial crown, after- 
ward Alexander III, had just arrived and was staying 
a day or two in the city. 

When Bismarck uttered his famous saying, "We Ger- 
mans fear God and naught beside," he simply projected 
into the history of Germany his own character. Fear- 
lessness was a main characteristic of his from boyhood, 
and it never left him in any of the emergencies of his 
later life. 

His activity through the press interested me much at 
times. It was not difficult to discern his work in many of 
the "inspired" editorials and other articles. I have in 
my possession sundry examples of the originals of these, 
—each page is divided into two columns,— the first the 
work of one of his chosen scribes, the second copiously 
amended in the chancellor's own hand, and always with 
a gain in lucidity and pungency. 

Of the various matters which arose between us, one is 
perhaps worthy of mention, since it has recently given 
rise to a controversy between a German- American jour- 
nalist and Bismarck's principal biographer. 

One morning, as I sat in dismay before my work-table, 
loaded with despatches, notes, and letters, besides futili- 
ties of every sort, there came in the card of Lothar 
Bucher. Everything else was, of course, thrown aside. 
Bucher never made social visits. He was the pilot-fish of 
the whale, and a visit from him "meant business." 

Hardly had he entered the room when his business was 
presented: the chancellor wished to know if the United 
States would join Germany and Great Britain in repre- 
sentations calculated to stop the injuries to the commerce 



MY RECOLLECTIONS OF BISMARCK-1879-1881 597 

of all three nations caused by the war then going on be- 
tween Chile and Peru. 

My answer was that the United States could not join 
other powers in any such effort; that our government 
might think it best to take separate action; and that it 
would not interfere with any proper efforts of other pow- 
ers to secure simple redress for actual grievances ; but that 
it could not make common cause with other powers in any 
such efforts. To clinch this, I cited the famous passage 
in Washington's Farewell Address against "entangling 
alliances with foreign powers" as American gospel, and 
added that my government would also be unalterably op- 
posed to anything leading to permanent occupation of 
South American territory by any European power, and 
for this referred him to the despatches of John Quincy 
Adams and the declarations of President Monroe. 

He seemed almost dumfounded at this, and to this day 
I am unable to decide whether his surprise was real or 
affected. He seemed to think it impossible that we could 
take any such ground, or that such a remote, sentimental 
interest could outweigh material interests so pressing as 
those involved in the monkey-and-parrot sort of war going 
on between the two South American republics. As he was 
evidently inclined to dwell on what appeared to him the 
strangeness of my answer, I said to him: "AVhat I state 
to you is elementary in American foreign policy; and to 
prove this I will write, in your presence, a cable despatch 
to the Secretary of State at Washington, and you shall see 
it and the answer it brings." 

I then took a cable blank, wrote the despatch, and 
showed it to him. It was a simple statement of the chan- 
cellor's proposal, and on that he left me. In the even- 
ing came the answer. It was virtually my statement to 
Bucher, and I sent it to him just as I had received it. 
That was the last of the matter. No further effort was 
made in the premises, so far as I ever heard, either by 
Germany or Great Britain. It has recently been stated, 
in an American magazine article, that Bismarck, toward 



598 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-VII 

the end of his life, characterized the position taken by 
Mr. Cleveland regarding European acquisition of South 
American territory as something utterly new and unheard 
of. To this, Poschinger, the eminent Bismarck biogra- 
pher, has replied in a way which increases my admiration 
for the German Foreign Office ; for it would appear that 
he found in the archives of that department a most exact 
stf 'ement of the conversation between Bucher and myself, 
a I of the action which followed it. So precise was his 
account that it even recalled phrases and other minutiae 
of the conversation which I had forgotten, but which I at 
once recognized as exact when thus reminded of them. 
The existence of such a record really revives one's child- 
like faith in the opening of the Great Book of human deeds 
and utterances at ''the last day." 

Perhaps the most interesting phase of Bismarck's life 
which a stranger could observe was his activity in the 
imperial parliament. 

That body sits in a large hall, the representatives of the 
people at large occupying seats in front of the president's 
desk, and the delegates from the various states— known 
as the Imperial Council— being seated upon an elevated 
platform at the side of the room, right and left of the 
president's chair. At the right of the president, some dis- 
tance removed, sits the chancellor, and at his right hand 
the imperial ministry; while in front of the president's 
chair, on a lower stage of the platform, is the tribune from 
which, as a rule, members of the lower house address the 
whole body. 

It was my good fortune to hear Bismarck publicly dis- 
cuss many important questions, and his way of speaking 
was not like that of any other man I have ever heard. He 
was always clothed in the undress uniform of a Prussian 
general; and, as he rose, his bulk made him imposing. 
His first utterances were disappointing. He seemed 
wheezy, rambling, incoherent, with a sort of burdensome 
self-consciousness checking his ideas and clogging his 
words. His manner was fidgety, his arms being thrown 



MY RECOLLECTIONS OF BISMARCK -1879 -1881 599 

uneasily about, and his fingers fumbling bis mustache 
or his clothing or the papers on his desk. He puffed, 
snorted, and floundered ; seemed to make assertions with- 
out proof and phrases without point; when suddenly he 
would utter a statement so pregnant as to clear up a whole 
policy, or a sentence so audacious as to paralyze a whole 
line of his opponents, or a phrase so vivid as to run 
through the nation and electrify it. Then, perhaps aftei 
more rumbling and rambling, came a clean, clear, histori- 
cal illustration carrying conviction; then, very likely, a 
simple and strong argument, not infrequently ended by 
some heavy missile in the shape of an accusation or taunt 
hurled into the faces of his adversaries ; then, perhaps at 
considerable length, a mixture of caustic criticism and 
personal reminiscence, in which sparkled those wonderful 
sayings which have gone through the empire and settled 
deeply into the German heart. I have known many clever 
speakers and some very powerful orators; but I have 
never known one capable, in the same degree, of over- 
whelming his enemies and carrying his whole country with 
him. Nor was his eloquence in his oratory alone. There 
was something in his bearing, as he sat at his ministerial 
desk and at times looked up from it to listen to a speaker, 
which was very impressive. 

Twice I heard Moltke speak, and each time on the army 
estimates. Nothing could be more simple and straight- 
forward than the great soldier's manner. As he rose, he 
looked like a tall, thin, kindly New England schoolmaster. 
His seat was among the representatives, very nearly in 
front of that which Bismarck occupied on the estrade. On 
one of these occasions I heard him make his famous decla- 
ration that for the next fifty years Germany must be in 
constant readiness for an attack from France. He spoke 
very rarely, was always brief and to the point, saying with 
calm strength just what he thought it a duty to say— nei- 
ther more nor less. So Caesar might have spoken. Bis- 
marck, I observed, always laid down his large pencil and 
listened intently to every word. 



600 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-VII 

The most curious example of the eloquence of silence in 
Bismarck's case, which I noted, was when his strongest 
opponent, Windthorst, as the representative of the com- 
bination of Roman Catholics and others generally in op- 
position, but who, at that particular time, seemed to have 
made a sort of agreement to support some of Bismarck's 
measures, went to the tribune and began a long and very 
earnest speech. Windthorst was a man of diminutive 
stature, smaller even than Thiers,— almost a dwarf,— and 
his first words on this occasion had a comical effect. He 
said, in substance, "I am told that if we enter into a 
combination with the chancellor in this matter, we are 
sure to come out second best." At this Bismarck raised 
his head, turned and looked at the orator, the attention of 
the whole audience being fastened upon both. "But," 
continued Windthorst, "the chancellor will have to get 
up very early in the morning to outwit us in this matter. ' ' 
There was a general outburst of laughter as the two 
leaders eyed each other. It reminded one of nothing so 
much as a sturdy mastiff contemplating a snappish terrier. 

As to his relations with his family, which, to some little 
extent, I noticed when with them, nothing could be more 
hearty, simple, and kindly. He was beautifully devoted 
to his wife, and evidently gloried in his two stalwart sons, 
Prince Herbert and "Count Bill," and in his daughter, 
Countess von Kantzau; and they, in return, showed a 
devotion to him not less touching. No matter how severe 
the conflicts which raged outside, within his family the 
stern chancellor of "blood and iron" seemed to disappear; 
and in his place came the kindly, genial husband, father, 
and host. 

The last time I ever saw him was at the Schonhausen 
station on my way to Bremen. He walked slowly from the 
train to his carriage, leaning heavily on his stick. He 
seemed not likely to last long; but Dr. Schweninger's 
treatment gave him a new lease of life, so that, on my 
return to Berlin eighteen years later, he was still living. 



RD -2ai 



MY RECOLLECTIONS OF BISMARCK-1879-1881 601 

In reply to a respectful message be sent me a kindly 
greeting, and expressed the hope that he would, ere long, 
be well enough to receive me ; but he was even then sink- 
ing, and soon passed away. So was lost to mortal sight 
the greatest German since Luther. 

END OF VOLUME I 


























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